Same Old Song And Dance
by Classless
Summary: Watching Casey perform a dance she choreographed, Derek is forced to admit that Casey MacDonald has had a considerable impact on his life over the last two years, but he just can't see her as family. Rated for Language and possible Sexual Content.
1. Dazed And Confused

**Chapter 1: Dazed and Confused**

"Why am I here again?" Derek whispered into his dad's ear.

"We're supporting Casey. And hoping to pay less for her college."

The lights dimmed and the auditorium hushed. Derek squirmed in his seat. Edwin had already fallen asleep and the ballet hadn't even started. Lizzie sat on the edge of the red velvet cushion to his right, Edwin drooling a bit on her shoulder. A half hour in, the program was only two acts down, and Casey's was the last on the program. Her ballet academy had decided to put on a more unconventional recital than usual, letting top students choreograph short vignettes, rather than have a common theme. Casey's had been chosen, and she and her partner Ben had been working on the dance for months.

By now, Lizzie had slumped back in her seat, uninterested. Even Nora stifled a yawn. Derek tried to catch the eye of a cute blonde a couple seats down, but it didn't work; she was staring intently at the stage. He remembered seeing her a few times when he'd picked Casey up at the studio. He thought she was one of the young girls' sisters or something. Even going near the dance studio made him feel a little gay, so he avoided it whenever possible.

After a few months in Montreal, Casey had been ready to pick up dancing again, and called her old school for recommendations. It wasn't long after that she started at the Montreal Royal Academy, which Derek thought was a stupid name for a dance studio that was owned by a crotchety old woman who wasn't even British.

Another act and another bout of tinny harpsichord music later and Derek's chin slid of his hand startling him into waking. The three be-tutued dancers curtsied and ran off the stage as the audience gave a polite round of applause.

Lizzie jerked on Edwin's ear; an annoying habit of Nora's that she'd picked up. "Casey's pas à deux is up!" she squealed in hushed tones. "It's so good!"

"What's a paw a duh?" Derek whispered back, waiting for the curtain to rise.

"It just means she has a partner. You met Ben, right?"

Derek snorted. Ben was half the reason Sam and Casey had broken up for good. Those two had the most notorious on again, off again relationship in their school. They broke up after about a month, and then got back together just another short month later. It only took two rounds of the drama for Derek to just wash his hands of the whole affair, even though it made him grit his teeth in unacknowledged frustration.

After Casey started dancing again Sam got jealous of how much time Casey spent at the studio, especially when she was at the studio with Ben. At least that's what Derek had heard. Sam hadn't wanted to talk much about the break up, and Derek hadn't wanted to ask. Besides, he had the sneaking suspicion that Ben wasn't all that into Casey, or any girl, for that matter.

The heavy crimson curtain parted and the stage was completely dark. Smooth guitar chords flowed out over the crowd and Derek immediately recognized the song.

"Is this why Casey's permanently borrowed my Led Zeppelin CD?"

Lizzie nodded intent on the two figures that were bathed in harsh spotlights at opposite ends of the stage. Instead of being elaborately costumed like the other performers, Casey just wore her normal pink tights cut off at the ankles, blue cotton exercise shorts and a pale pink tank top Derek had seen her wear around the house. Tall, blonde, good looking, and gay Derek reminded himself, Ben was similarly clothed in a tight fitting tee-shirt and what looked like cargo shorts. Casey's hair hung down completely, unadorned by her usual barrettes or headbands. It gleamed in the bright light as she sat, knees to chin, staring pointedly away from Ben. The Venturi-MacDonalds were only two rows away, and Derek immediately recognized the determined, angry look in her eye.

As Robert Plant began his opening wails to "Since I've Been Loving You," Ben strutted towards Casey, a smile playing on his lips. Flipping his hair and doing some fairly difficult, Derek admitted, acrobatics, Ben danced around Casey alone for a few moments. She just stayed still as a rock.

Derek poked Lizzie.

"What?" she hissed, annoyed by the distraction.

"Why isn't she moving?"

Rolling her eyes, she replied in a whisper, "Because she's telling a story. Ben is trying to impress Casey, and she doesn't want him to think she cares, that's why she isn't dancing with him."

"Oh."

Casey extended a leg, leisurely stretching and ignoring her partner. After another series of acrobatics, Ben finally crept up behind her and simply picked her up. Casey became stiff as a board, everything about her seeming pointed, from her toes to her hands pressed firmly to her sides. He tried to make her walk with him, but she looked more like a tin soldier. Finally Ben let go of her waist and Casey tumbled back to the floor.

Looking over her shoulder at Ben's retreating figure, Derek noticed Casey's expression change. It looked like she was a puppet and someone was pulling her off the floor. She was resisting every step that took her closer to Ben and he just watched her come, the same half smile on his face. Ben held out his hand and an elegant finger tip touched it, jerked away, and finally settled into his.

Ben pulled her close to him, pressing her face into his chest and no longer was Casey a puppet, she was a rag doll. He spun her around the stage, picked her up, tossed her around and she danced with him, she followed in whatever direction he took them. Gone was the angry look from her eyes, replaced with something confused and wistful.

Derek poked Lizzie again.

"What now?"

"Why isn't Casey happy?"

"Because she knows Ben's in control now. It's a hopeless situation for her."

To punctuate Lizzie's words, the song came to an end, Casey sinking to the ground at Ben's feet, clinging to his leg, once again refusing to let their eyes meet. Ben, on the other hand, laid a hand atop her head and his half smile became something crueler in Derek's opinion. It made him want to play Ben in a one on one hockey grudge match with no pads and no rules.

He didn't like that this performance made him actually feel something. Ballet was for pussies, and real men, like him, didn't become emotional over a stupid dance.

The audience stood up and applauded loudly as the curtain dropped for the final time. The entire theater started emptying itself and Nora and George dragged the rest of the kids off to a corner where they'd arranged to meet Casey after the show.

Leaning on a pillar, Derek watched the crowd. The cute blonde he'd noticed earlier kept trying to make eye contact, but now he just didn't feel like it. For the first time in the two years he'd been living with the MacDonald's Derek felt like something in him had changed.

No, not for the first time. Not for the first time at all. Stupid MacDonalds, stupid Casey and her stupid emotions. The blonde began to saunter over towards him, but Derek didn't feel like flirting. That had to be a first, at the least. At eighteen, Derek had still never had a girlfriend for more than a month. Why, he asked Nora when she questioned him about it, would he want to tie himself down with one girl if he could have twice as much fun with two? To avoid the seductively smiling Marilyn clone, Derek ducked out the door and made his way towards the car. Out of the corner of his eye, Derek saw Ben exit the theater, and it made his fist clench involuntarily.

Without even knowing why, Derek jogged after the dancer and shoved him, hard.

"What the fuck man?" Ben shouted, dropping his bag and car keys. "Seriously, not cool."

Derek just stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed, searching for the words. "What did you do to Casey?"

Ben's eyebrows shot up, confused. "I have no idea?"

"She was upset. Dancing. She was upset when she was dancing."

Letting out a short laugh, Ben just shook his head. "Dude, you're retarded. It's just a fucking metaphor. Casey and I are friends, nothing more. Now, if you're done being an asshole, I'm going home to shower."

"Sorry," Derek mumbled as the tall blond boy walked off. Ben just gave him the finger.

"Derek!" George beckoned his son over to the SUV as the rest of the family started piling into it. "We're going to head home. I was hoping you could give Casey a ride when she finishes changing, since you couldn't bring yourself to congratulate her with the rest of us." The tone of George's voice made it clear that this was not a request. Nora tossed him the keys to her Camry with a warning to drive safely.

"Don't I always?" Derek batted his eyelashes at her and she just rolled her eyes.

"And don't fight!"

Derek waved them away, a tense smile on his face. He sat leaning against Nora's car for a good ten minutes, mulling over why he'd acted that way towards Ben. Was it possible that he was finally starting to accept Casey as part of the family? He doubted it. She was still as foreign and frustrating as ever. He knew as little about her as he did when she had moved in. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He'd spent enough time trying to figure out what got under her skin. And looking up half of the words she used in a dictionary. He hated to admit it, but Casey had indirectly raised his English grade from a C to a B-.

Finally, he saw Casey's lithe form come around the building carrying a giant pink bag. She looked around a bit at the almost empty parking lot before heading towards Derek and the Camry.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"Marti needed to get to bed early," he lied smoothly. He didn't like being alone with Casey. It always made him fidget.

"Oh." Casey's mouth turned down at the corners. "I guess…" She trailed off as Derek got in the car and turned the engine on. She threw her dance gear in the back seat and got in, stifling a sniffle.

As Casey's acting got worse and worse, Derek turned the car off, and in a moment of startling compassion, another MacDonald trait he'd picked up, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just being stupid and nostalgic."

"Good." Derek turned the car back on.

"It's just that, back in Toronto, my mom and Lizzie used to take me out for ice cream after every recital. They'd tell me how good I did and it'd just be nice and fun and I'm just being stupid aren't I?"

"Yep." Derek sped up a little trying to get home and make the awkwardness go away. There was a weird feeling that chewed at the pit of his stomach whenever Casey was around. It felt kind of like guilt mixed with loyalty mixed with fascination and protectiveness. He didn't like the thought of accepting her into his life. It'd been two years, and he still refused to accept this feeling, still hadn't pinned down why he felt so uneasy with her.

Casey shut up at Derek's terse response. He glanced over and caught her staring out the window, wiping at her eyes. Sighing, Derek pulled into a gas station parking lot.

"Stay here, I need to get a soda. Edwin drank the last one in the fridge earlier." He ran inside and Casey watched him through the convenience store windows as best she could. She still didn't understand Derek Venturi. The two years they had lived together had done nothing to unravel the mystery of his choices and actions. It was if he never learned from his past mistakes, continuously dating the vapid pretty girls that he inevitably ended up dumping, picking fights with her whenever he could. Sometimes she was too tired these days to even fight back. It hurt her more than she would ever say that he couldn't see her in a positive light.

The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hold this." Derek unceremoniously dumped a bag of groceries in her lap, causing her to shriek.

"Holy cold! Jesus, Derek! What the he…" Casey pulled a pint of Cherry Garcia out of the bag. She resisted the urge to hug her driver, so instead she just mumbled, "Thanks. It's my favorite."

"I know." The uncomfortable feeling jumped from his stomach to his throat and the car fell into silence as Casey found the plastic spoon he'd put into the bag.

"You're a good dancer." It was almost a whisper and it made Casey do a double take. "I really believed Ben was hurting you."

Blushing furiously, Casey stammered out a quick thank you. "But we're nothing more than friends. He's just my dance partner."

Derek killed the engine as they pulled up to the house. "That's what he said." He looked her straight in the eye, head practically pounding with the effort of it. "I know it was just a dance, but you were upset up there on stage. You were angry. I know when you're angry better than anyone in the world."

She dropped her bright blue eyes. "Like you said Derek. It was just a dance." Casey got out of the car and practically ran up the porch steps, but Derek grabbed her arm before she could make it into the house.

"Case, you're a terrible liar. If you're being hurt, you have to tell someone. Is it Sam?"

Shrugging off his grip, she just shook her head. "Sam's not doing anything. And I'm fine." Casey turned and walked into the heat of the house, effectively ending the conversation. She threw her bag at the bottom of the stairs and took her ice cream up to her room, where she stared at the container until it became ice cream soup.

_Author's Notes:_

I prefer end of the chapter notes because I think beginning of the chapter notes change a reader's perception of the story. That said, I'm not going to tell you at all about pairings or answer any plot related questions (though honestly, I don't have a good idea where this is going either).

I do want to let you all know that I am a very very slow writer, and to not expect any updates soon, though I am working on chapter 2. However, I always appreciate reviews, if you liked it, tell me why, if you didn't please do the same. Reviews always remind me that I have a project to work on, and help me try and corral the plot bunnies that make us write.

Thanks for reading!

Caro


	2. When the Levee Breaks

**Chapter 2: When the Levee Breaks**

An orange sphere whizzed past Derek's ear as Lizzie took a shot on his goal in their pick-up game outside the house. The fall weather was ending, so Nora and George shooed the kids outside whenever possible. The shot went a wide of their makeshift goal, so Lizzie rollerbladed down the street to bring the ball back inbounds. Edwin seemed glad of the break, leaning heavily on his stick. Sam also seemed distracted, looking off into the distance. Derek's eyes narrowed as he followed the blond boy's gaze over to where Casey sat on the porch, immersed in her book.

The round puck streaked past Edwin's feet and it was game on. Sam brought the ball under control and deftly passed it back to Lizzie. She shot again, but Derek blocked the puck and tore off towards Sam's goal. Squinting, he couldn't help but remember Casey's sad smile when she danced. His legs pumped faster, his look of concentration being replaced by a grimace. Caught up in his thoughts, Derek didn't even bother to slow down as Sam moved into his path. Instead, he checked the taller boy to the ground.

"What the fuck, Derek!" Sam yelled, dusting off his palms.

"Sorry, man," Derek mumbled, looking away. His eyes met Casey's when her head snapped up to see what the commotion was.

The weird, protective nausea welled up in his stomach. It made Derek so uneasy, he just skated off the road and stomped up the steps, ignoring the girl sitting there. Sam followed his best friend soon after, muttering obscenities. He caught up to his friend right before Derek managed to slam the door. The defeated look in his eyes made Sam stop in his tracks before cautiously entering the familiar messy room.

Years being friends with such a domineering personality had made Sam patient, so when Derek sat on his bed staring blankly into space, the blond boy didn't push him to speak. He grabbed an old issue of Spin from under a dirty shirt and waited, letting Derek take his time. After several false starts, Derek finally cleared his throat.

"As you can tell, I've…not been feeling like myself lately."

Sam turned the page in acknowledgement.

"I think I know why, so I have to ask you one question, even though it's going to sound ridiculous."

"Shoot." Derek looked Sam straight in the eye, his entire body tense with a seriousness that Sam had never seen in Derek before.

"Has Casey been trying to get back together with you?"

Sam blinked, completely taken aback. "No. We don't even hang out anymore. I guess you could say we're friends, but…" He trailed off, worried by Derek's grimace.

"Did you ever…rape Casey? Don't lie to me Sammy."

Looking at his best friend with wide eyes, Sam stammered out a simple no. Derek breathed a relieved sigh and lay back on his bed. He believed Sam, and he hadn't even wanted to ask. Despite getting the answers he was looking for, the uneasy feeling in his stomach wouldn't go away.

"Has she been seeing anyone? Hanging around with anyone?"

Sam looked away from the bed. "I wouldn't know."

"How wouldn't you know! You dated the girl for two years!" This was the frustrated Derek he was used to. But now, the tall skater didn't really give a shit.

"Well, I know she doesn't like me, and that's all I need to know!" Sam hissed, fed up with Derek's antics. "For fucks sake, she broke up with me, not the other way around."

"Oh." Somehow, talking about Casey always made him look like an asshole, Derek mused.

Running a hand through his messy hair, Sam picked up the magazine and let his friend ruminate. After a few minutes of silence, he caught Derek's eye. "Listen, if you think something's seriously wrong with Casey, enough to ask me if I'd do…that, then obviously it's big. So I'm going to lay this on the table, but I don't want to talk about it after today. Okay?"

Derek nodded, attentive.

"When we broke up, back in July, Casey said she wasn't being fair to me. Said she was breaking up with me for my own good," Sam snorted at her audacity.

"Sounds like Casey," Derek sympathized.

"Yeah. She can be pretty patronizing. Anyway, I asked her why the hell she'd say that, and at first she didn't want to tell me. So I kept asking, cuz I was mad, yanno?"

Derek wisely kept his mouth shut. The drama was long past and he hadn't wanted to bring it back up, but he was willing to do almost anything to make the nervous feeling go away.

"So finally, she told me that she liked someone else, and that she didn't feel right staying with me, because she didn't love me." Sam breathed heavily, glad to finally be able to talk to someone.

"But she didn't say who?"

Laughing quietly, Sam shook his head. "And I didn't stick around to find out."

If anything, this news made Derek's stomach churn more. He hated this feeling, and hated more that Casey was bugging him, even though she wasn't right there in the room nagging.

"I appreciate it." Derek held out his hand and they gave each other a manly handshake, signifying the moment of sharing was over.

"I know what it's like, man. I've got sisters myself."

The s-word made Derek flinch internally. The guilt welled up in him again, and he wished he could get over whatever it was that made him not accept her as part of his family.

----------

Casey sat in her room, looking out at the setting sun. She had finished all of her homework on Saturday so there was nothing left to do now but get started on some of the more long term assignments she'd been given. But for the moment, she just stared at the pinks and purples streaking across the sky and tried to find the peace inside that she'd lost two years, one month and seventeen days ago. Her mother's wedding day.

She closed her eyes and tried to fight the melancholy. It wasn't like her to give in to disappointment, to accept fate, to believe in destiny. She'd turned this problem over and over in her head, examined it from every angle conceivable, run innumerable scenarios, and always the outcome was less than satisfying. Or more bluntly, and she was being more blunt these days, thanks to her Venturian housemates, the outcome was bad.

Her mom thought it was just stress. The stress of being a teenager, of taking university exams, of living in such cramped quarters, of an intensified sibling rivalry, of boys and dating, and even maybe sex. Nora knew she was partially right, but she didn't know which part. So Casey continued to spiral into self pity, and no one was there to stop her.

Before her last recital, Casey had been able to give her self some breathing space by expressing all of her pent up frustrations into her dance, but now…

Now the one person she didn't want to ask her questions was the only person who cared. Lizzie had given up after her big sister bit her head off every time she asked. Whatt a great sister, Casey mentally scoffed.

What was his game, she wondered? Derek always had a game, always wanted to mess with her head. That was part of the reason she spent so much time trying to figure him out. She still hadn't gotten it down to a science, though she'd basically majored in Derek-ology these last few years. She didn't know what made him tick, she only knew the mundane things, like his favorite laundry detergent (Tide with no additives), what kind of milk he drank (1, though he preferred ½), that he takes fifteen minutes to get ready for a date with a girl he really likes, ten if she's just hot, and seven if he only had an ulterior motive, like homework help.

The last tidbit pissed her off to no end. Casey couldn't understand why he wasted his time on girls that only took fifteen minutes to get ready for. When she had an exciting date, she took almost an hour. It was obvious he didn't really care for these girls, anyone could see that, and Casey did take some small satisfaction from the fact that Derek hadn't found Miss Right.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Dinner, Casey!" Lizzie called, her footsteps heading back to the dining room.

The first thing Casey noticed as she trotted down the stairs was Derek's piercing gazed fixed on her. She tried to stride quickly past his seat on his favorite chair, but he stood up to block her path.

"I need to talk to you after dinner," he breathed into her ear. His shaggy hair tickled her forehead.

"Why?" Casey's voice didn't betray the butterflies in her stomach. She'd had lots of practice.

He shook his head. "After dinner," he whispered.

Casey felt her cheeks flush, trying not to imagine what he could possibly want. She'd heard him say those same words over the phones to several girls, and it wasn't always about trigonometry help these days.

She avoided his glances throughout dinner, unable to face him head on, still bewildered by his sudden interest in her life. Maybe he finally wanted to be a real brother to her. The thought almost made Casey choke on a pea. Did he really want to be her family? She certainly didn't think of him as family, never could. He pushed her well out of the realm of family at every opportunity, never spending a second with her; declining family get togethers if she was there; never putting her needs over his own. And other than this new acknowledgement of Casey's mental health, he still acted like the same old Derek. He hadn't said a word to her at school last week, she remembered, cheering up a little.

It was an odd flutter in her stomach when she thought of Derek. She didn't want him to notice her, but she wanted him to notice only her. She was a fucking mess around him, really, so she reined herself in more. It hurt to keep everyone out though. Casey missed confiding in Lizzie. But she knew that this time, she couldn't tell her sister a thing. She couldn't let anyone know.

Casey straightened in her chair, and then next time she felt his gaze on her, she looked right at him, face blanker than Maverick's in his final poker game.

"Derek, can you pass me the bread, if you're not too busy stuffing your face?"

Even though he'd seen her moping all day, Derek was relieved by the lame insult. She'd said it full of spirit, in top form, trying to bait him into a shouting match. This was the Casey he was comfortable with, the Casey he wanted to be around. He blinked, startled by his own choice of words.

"Can you not hear me over the sound of your sloppy masticating?" Casey inquired impatiently.

"Dad, can she actually say that at the table?" Edwin asked, shocked.

The innocent query saved Derek the trouble of responding. Caught up in his own thoughts, he doubted he could've made a decent comeback anyway. George took up the challenge of trying to explain the difference between masticating and 'that' while Lizzie and Marti shouldered the not so difficult task of making fun Edwin's mistake.

With all the noise going on around her, Casey's spirits lifted. This was still a normal family, and she was still a normal girl with a normal boy problem. She excused herself from the table, running up stairs to her room to straighten up. If she was going to treat this like she was normal, then she would have to act like it. Running a brush through her hair, Casey envisioned her snappy responses to Derek's barbs.

"Oh, and I'm sure George will love you spending the rest of your life mooching off of him." It didn't quite have the same ring saying it out loud, but it did make her feel better.

As per usual, Derek didn't knock when he entered.

"Casey, I knew you liked to study, but practicing comebacks? This is a new low."

The brunette spun around, mortified. "Can't you ever knock!" she sputtered, her cheeks stinging with heat.

Derek just cocked his eyebrow and smirked, thoroughly amused. "If I did, I'd miss shining moments like this. So I think…no."

"Ugh, what did you want?" Casey busied herself with fixing her ponytail, trying to focus on her resolution.

For a minute, Derek didn't remember. He watched her play with her hair, mesmerized by the deft movements of her fingers.

"Well?" she snapped.

Derek shook his head. "Never mind. You seem back to your normal, bitchy self."

Casey frowned. "I'm not a bitch."

Her comment stopped Derek in his tracks. "Really, Case? Because, you know, yelling at Lizzie and brushing off your mom and making everyone worry about you while you just sit around and sulk and don't care about our feelings is a pretty bitchy thing to do."

Flabbergasted, she didn't know how to respond. "Is that really how you see me?" Casey slumped to the bed, her renewed spirit already broken. Since when had she been a bitch?

Derek sighed. How was he going to get out of this one without looking like the good guy? "No. I mean, yeah, you've been acting all…depressed for the last couple months, and that's just not who we were used to. You're getting angry with your sister, not at me." He looked directly at her, trying to keep the confused look off his face. "What is going on?"

So he had noticed. She stared at the floor trying to avoid his gaze, sounding out a million answers in her head. "I haven't been acting depressed," she offered lamely.

"You are a terrible liar, Casey." Derek rolled his eyes. "Let's see. It's not about your dad, or you'd be talking to Lizzie. It's not about school, otherwise you'd talk to Nora. Which leaves…a boy."

Casey tried not to react, but she knew she looked a bit shocked.

"So it is a boy." A cold wave of nausea flooded his gut, but he kept the smirk on his lips just the same. "You're trying to get back with Sam." It was a bluff, but he knew Casey would fall for it.

"No! We don't have anything in common, we fought all the time…this has nothing to do with Sam. If you want me to, I won't even come within a fifty foot radius of him. Will that make you feel better?"

He had to steer the conversation back towards her. Casey was a master of deflection. Despite the seriousness of the situation Derek laughed. "Casey, for once in your existence, give it up! You are so in your own world, trapped in your own way of thinking that you never let anyone help you, even when you need it!" He sat down on the bed beside her. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but dammit Casey, talk to me."

She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. "What would you do if you liked a girl completely out of your league. Popular and funny and she made you feel so alive, like no one ever has before. But at the same time, you know that if you ended up dating her, you'd basically just be one more in a string of meaningless flings, so you don't even want to ask her out, even if you could, but you can't because she's a teacher!" The words spilled out of her and she couldn't any longer hold back the tears that had been threatening since Derek walked into the room.

Derek was stunned. "You have a crush on a lesbian teacher?"

"Ugh! No Derek, it's a metaphor! A comparison without using the words 'like' or 'as'!" Casey shoved him off the bed and pushed him out the door. "This is why I didn't want to tell anyone! I knew you wouldn't understand!"

She shut the door on him with a bang and sank into her bed, trying to wipe away the tears. Walking over to his room, Derek felt even more troubled than when he'd first gone to talk to her. What was with Casey and all her damn metaphors? First, Ben prancing around like a nutcase, trying to get her to notice him in that stupid recital. Now, Casey admitting to having a crush on a lesbian teacher. But if it was just a comparison, then she had a crush on some boy, a boy who was popular and funny and completely…a teacher?

No, that couldn't be it, he reasoned, chewing on his knuckle. Casey wouldn't have found any of the teachers at school attractive. Not even Emily thought they were all that cute. Why would she say teacher? Someone studious? No, none of the popular students were all that serious. Teacher...what was a teacher to a student? Someone who punishes kids? Maybe she liked to be punished?

Derek almost choked on his breath at that interesting thought, and decided that while it was not the right line of thinking, he filed it away to revisit later, when he wasn't so puzzled.

He flopped down onto his bed, remembering the recital. Ben had acted like a complete jerk to her, once she acknowledged his presence, he'd just shoved her around, like the stage was all his, made her march to his drum, was in complete control…

----------

The door flew open and Derek stood looming over her while she tried to wipe her eyes.

"What now?" Casey sniffled, desperately trying to compose herself.

Derek crouched down so that he was eye level with her, searching her face. The look in his dark brown eyes was new, cleared of the confusion she'd seen just a few minutes ago, but lacking their normal arrogance. They were soft, even if his mouth was drawn into a harsh line.

"Do you really have a thing for your teacher?" he asked voice low.

"What? Derek, I already said…"

Casey was cut off in midsentance by Derek's lips pressing against her own.


	3. Fool In the Rain

**Chapter 3: Fool In The Rain**

The smack of Casey's palm landing full speed Derek's face echoed in the deathly silent room.

"You had no right to do that."

He rubbed his jaw. "But I thought...I mean…Casey, you want me."

Her blue eyes were downcast when she looked at him, his face still inches from hers. "I do."

Derek leaned into kiss her again, but she turned and his lips only brushed her cheek.

"I like you, Derek." He could feel her trembling, trying to suppress her emotions. Letting out a deep breath, Casey continued, "I want you, but I don't want to be with you."

Floored, he sat heavily on the carpet. The sense of peace he had finally mustered faded, replaced by his familiar stomach churn. This was the first time that Derek could ever remember that a girl had made him want to throw up.

"Why?" he choked out.

His eyes always gave away what he was feeling, but she couldn't bring herself to look. She knew that if she looked now, she'd be lost in those eyes and would agree to whatever he asked.

"Please just leave." Casey bit her lip and stared resolutely at her headboard.

Shaking his head, Derek pushed himself to his feet. He paused with his hand on the doorknob.

"Did you really mean any of that, or were you just trying to make me look like a fool?" he asked, not expecting an answer. When she still refused to look at him, he wanted to say something else, but the words died in his throat. Instead, he just shut the door.

----------

Breakfast the next morning was quiet and tense. Even Marti, normally boisterous before school, was somber, munching on a bowl of cereal. Casey didn't say a word when Derek entered the kitchen; she just gulped down the remainder of her orange juice, dumped her bowl in the sink and dashed out the door, hoping to catch a ride with Trevor and Emily.

"Hey wait up guys!" She shouted, trying to stop Trevor's old Accord from pulling out of the driveway. "Can I get a lift?"

Emily rolled down the window, and with a skeptical look at her friend nodded. "Are you feeling okay today Casey?"

"Of course," she lied as she slid into the backseat. "Why?"

"You're wearing sweatpants and your hair isn't done. The last time you looked this...undone, you were trying to get out of your grade grubbing rep."

"I am not undone!" Casey huffed, trying to straighten her hair in the rearview mirror.

"Whatever, Case, I'm just trying to be a friend."

Derek's words from last night echoed in her head. She really was pushing everyone away. "I'm sorry Em, I've just been under a lot of stress lately," she apologized. "And last night I had this huge fight with Derek, and," she sighed. "I'm just sorry."

Emily leaned past the center console and gave her friend an awkward hug. "It's okay. I know I've been distracted lately, too, no thanks to a certain someone." She pinched Trevor's arm

"Hey! Leave me out of this!" He squirmed away from his girlfriend, trying to concentrate on the road.

It made Casey smile, watching her two friends. They were so different, but complementary. Emily was easily excited, and Trevor's steady demeanor helped balance her. It was thanks to Emily that Trevor seemed happier and more upbeat than when Casey had first met him. They were a good match, and she wondered why it had taken them almost a year to figure it out. People could be so silly about love, she reflected staring at the scenery going by.

----------

Everyone around him felt the effects of Derek's foul mood, especially his hockey team. He had dropped any semblance of grace on the ice and simply smashed into people, not even really caring about the puck. Breathing heavily, he sat on the bench, resting his eyes while his coach tore into him for his behavior. Only half listening, he nodded along, trying to ignore the pain of the bruises forming all over his body.

Finally his coach let up and shoved him towards the showers. The water at the school was always only lukewarm, but today Derek was thankful for that. His ribs had taken the hardest hits, and they ached when he breathed. The pain was distracting to him, and he was thankful for that, too. This is what Derek Venturi did when things got difficult; he either found someone to fix the problem or ran away from it. And now, there was no one else who could fix it.

Of all things possible, he never dreamed that he'd be rejected by a girl. A girl who admitted to liking him! A girl as desperately in need of an outlet for her spontaneous side as Casey. She always had confused the hell out of him. She was trustworthy yet scheming, smart but ditzy, hot but a complete prude.

The water streamed down his face, making him feel better physically, but doing nothing to calm the turmoil in his head. He hated the unknown, hated wondering what he did wrong. Only Casey was capable of making him feel inferior. It made him pick on her more, laugh harder when she made a mistake, made him salt the wound when something bad happened to her.

It was no wonder why she rejected him, really.

When he first figured it out, it had seemed so easy. Give Casey what she wants, so she'll feel better, so everything would be normal again, so he could feel better. Derek hadn't eaten anything at lunch; his stomach was too twisted in knots.

Why did she have to be so damn frustrating? She made him want to scream and hit things sometimes, but he was way past tantrums, so instead he just gave everyone the silent treatment until he calmed down. This time there was only so much loud music and glares could do, so he really was starting to hit things, like his teammates.

He turned the water off, grabbing his towel and doing his best to prepare his façade of aloofness. If Casey wanted to play hard to get, well, so could he. If Casey wanted to jerk his strings, he'd jerk hers, twice as hard.

Resolved, Derek firmly ignored the voice in the back of his head telling him he was in too deep.

----------

The MacDonald-Venturi mob pilled out of George's Explorer, done for the week and ready to relax. Soccer season was wrapping up with Lizzie's last game out of the way, and Derek's hockey season hadn't started. Casey and Edwin had passed all of their midterms with flying colors, and Marti, being only nine, hadn't started to worry much about schoolwork, other than to receive a gold ribbon for having a picture in the elementary school annual art showcase.

That ribbon was proudly displayed on her coat as she begged Derek for a piggyback ride into the house. Unable to say no to his littlest sister, Derek trotted around the yard, Marti on his shoulders, dignity forgotten as everyone else shuffled inside.

Casey, last one out of the SUV, smiled softly as she watched the two. There were reasons she had feelings for Derek. It had hurt her at first, knowing she'd never be family to him or Edwin, but she got used to it. At least Edwin considered her a friend, but now that Derek knew she liked him, she had no idea how he felt at all.

Why had he kissed her? Did he really think she'd just fall to her knees like the other bimbos he'd dated? She still had her pride, if not her dignity. And he'd kissed her in her room! With the entire family in the house! What if Lizzie had walked in, or for that matter, what if her Mom had walked in! She would die of shame.

It was bad enough that she had accepted liking her stepbrother; she didn't want to be seen as pursuing something so taboo. If there was anything Casey valued in her life it was normalcy and routine, both of which Derek constantly disrupted.

So why couldn't she shake this stupid crush of hers, why had she learned to live with it? Because of all the heart wrenchingly sweet things Derek did for her and her family when he thought no one was watching. Because he was cute when he was floundering, and because she was one of the privileged few who'd seen his vulnerable side. Not even Kendra had seen that, and she was his longest relationship that Casey'd even witnessed.

This was the first time Casey wanted something she knew she could never get. With school, she just had to work harder. With boys, she just had to flirt more. But Derek wasn't just some guy; he was her stepbrother, and a playboy at that. She wished she was the type of girl who'd be okay with having a meaningless fling, like most of the girls he dated. Then maybe she would…

Derek stopped in his tracks as he caught Casey staring at him. He smirked, and she blushed, dropping her eyes and rushing inside.

He knew she liked him, and now, in grand Derek style, he was going to lord it over her for the rest of her existence.

----------

Casey's angsting music drifted down the upstairs hallway, winding its way around the banisters and finding its way under Derek's door. He rolled his eyes, desperately tired of hearing the warbling women and acoustic guitars, but not wanting to make the first move. He wanted her to come to him. Still, he could only put up with the auditory torture for so long.

Instead of banging on her door and picking a fight like he would have done in any other circumstance, Derek walked into her room, turned off the stereo and went back to his bed. Outraged by his audacity, it took Casey a minute to even process what had just happened.

"Der-ek!" She stormed out of her sanctuary, blue eyes blazing. Nonchalant as ever, her stepbrother was laying down, typing away on his laptop.

"Yes, Case?" He smiled sweetly up at her.

"Don't touch my stuff, don't come in my room, don't come anywhere near me!" She shouted, getting really worked up. "I might have feelings for you, but I am not delusional enough to ever believe you'd want any girl other than some docile, simpering moron, so don't pretend that just because I admitted something personal to you that you have the upper hand, because you don't! I won't let you run my life just like you run everyone else's around here!"

Derek frowned, taken aback. He didn't let her anger faze him though; this was just one fight on a long list of conflicts. "See, that's where you're wrong. I might not actually be able to boss you around like I can with Edwin and Marti, and I might not be able to persuade you into getting what I want like I can with Dad and Nora, but I do have an edge." He sat up to look her more directly in the eye. "I know you, and I know how you crush. You're overly analytical, practically obsessive. Every little thing I say to you will be analyzed, broken apart word by word, reanalyzed and gone over until you don't even remember what I said in the first place. Every thing action I take will get the same treatment. It's a wonder you stay sane when you like a guy."

Her mouth gaped open. Since when had Derek paid attention to her crushing habits? The most he'd ever done was make fun of her when she was fretting over what to wear on a date.

"And trust me Casey, if any boy could drive you crazy, it'd be me."

Furious, Casey just spun on her heel and stomped back to her room. She turned her music up full blast and sat back down at her desk. Trying to concentrate on her homework, she replayed the conversation over and over in her mind. Frustrated that Derek could predict her so well, she tried to ignore his taunt, but she couldn't help but wonder what had he meant by that?

----------

School was comfortably mind numbing for Casey. However when she woke up and glanced over at her alarm clock, she realized that it was a Saturday, and she had no choice but to deal with her family. She was still tired at nine-thirty, an hour later than her usual wake up time, and it was all Derek's fault. She couldn't sleep when she had a puzzle to solve, couldn't do anything but try and figure out the angles, get a straight answer.

He knew that and had said something extremely enigmatic on purpose. It was the only answer Casey'd been able to reason out. All of the other options thrilled her a little too much for her liking. She groaned and pulled the blankets over her head, wishing she hadn't breathed a word to him.

Truthfully, Derek was just as mystified by his own words as Casey was, but being the type to go with the flow, he was doing just that. He lay awake, staring at the wall to her room, wondering what she was thinking, how she was going to react. He'd heard her pacing last night; he knew he'd gotten to her.

His plan was working. It always made him smile to be in control. Here she was, the most intelligent, practical girl he knew, and all he had to do was say something and he could turn her into an emotional wreck.

Still, it was after nine and he wasn't hungry. His stomach churned, making him close his eyes and steady his breathing. If he was in control of the situation now, why did he still feel sick every time he thought about her? He lurched out of bed and towards the bathroom, hoping to find some antacids.

Casey was in the hallway waiting for the bathroom. She stuck her nose in the air and refused to acknowledge him. Derek smirked and formed a line behind her, leaning on the wall. He was shirtless, and the wallpaper was cold on his skin, but it was worth it, because he knew Casey was uncomfortable, too. So he scooted closer to her, brushing hair off the back of her neck, wrapping a hand around her waist.

She twisted, trying to squirm away, but he held her tight.

"Why do you always fight me, Casey?" he whispered, making her shiver when his lips touched her ear. "It's pointless. But I suppose that's your charm. You love hopeless causes."

Edwin walked out of the bathroom, and Derek quickly released his stepsister. Whirling around, Casey tried to confront him, but he just winked at her and slipped past her into the bathroom.

Frustrated at Derek and annoyed by missing her morning shower, Casey stomped downstairs to get breakfast. Derek leaned against the door, listening to her mini tantrum, and didn't move until the last footstep faded.

"Get a grip, Venturi," he told himself, examining his reflection in their mirror. Other than bad morning breath and slept on hair, he didn't look too bad. Maybe a little paler than usual, but all in all, still charming. He smirked in the mirror, but it felt half hearted. He'd felt it over the last couple of weeks. He was losing his touch.

He didn't understand it. Casey was the only girl who was even capable of messing with his routine, which she'd done every day for the last two years, and now she was unknowingly taking it to an extreme. He hated that she was affecting him like this, but he saw no way to get out of it. He cared. Whatever he might have said or done in the past, he had to admit to himself that he needed her to go back to the perky girl he once knew.

Derek showered and tried to let the thoughts roll off him like the hot water he was using. He stayed in there for twenty minutes, knowing full well he would catch hell from his dad.

----------

Casey had successfully avoided her stepbrother almost all day. Of course, that had meant avoiding the entire family as well, since it had been raining since early that morning and they'd been camped out in front of the TV from dawn. She was curled up in her blankets, reading a trashy romance novel she'd hidden under her bed when someone knocked softly at the door.

"Come in," she chimed, stuffing the book under her covers.

Derek poked his head through the doorway and instantly her pleasant demeanor turned sour.

"Hey, truce, truce. I come bearing pie." He swaggered into the room with a slice of lemon custard pie.

"That's for me?" she asked suspiciously. When it came to food, Derek wasn't the most trustworthy person.

"Yes, unfortunately. Nora made me promise, under some duress I might add, that it would make it up here intact." He held out the pie and a fork, and she took it from him, blushing slightly.

She started away on the treat, but stopped when she realized Derek was still standing there watching her. Her blue eyes met his brown ones, and his stomach lurched. What the hell was he standing there for?

"We missed you at dinner." The words were subdued and unexpected.

Casey dropped her gaze to the pie, unable to say anything. She hated the awkward tension her stupid crush created. She hated hurting her family because she couldn't control herself any better.

"I'm sorry," she choked out. "I just wasn't hungry."

Derek laughed a little. "Judging from the state of that pie, I'm going to call bullshit."

Somehow, their conversations always came down to him laughing and her glaring. She fixed her piercing eyes back on him, but he didn't even flinch.

"Fine. I was avoiding you."

"Why?"

"You know very well why." He was such a jerk sometimes.

"I know why, but I don't know why you bother." He shook his head and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "You know what your problem is Casey?"

"You. I thought that was obvious." She crossed her arms over her chest, defensive.

"Haha. Witty." Derek sat at the foot of her bed, trying to get her to look at him directly. "You are repressed. You spend so damn much time worrying about everyone else, and everyone else's stupid rules that you never take the time to think that yeah, it might feel good to say 'fuck it' and do what you want."

Casey chewed on her lip. She absolutely hated when Derek was right.

"If society didn't have rules, then we'd be all living in chaos."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Say whatever you need to justify your self-denial. You're stellar at it, so I'm sure you'll come up with a great excuse this time."

She looked so lost and small in her blankets, he couldn't help himself from leaning over and brushing his lips against the corner of her mouth before leaving her to analyze him again.

----------

It was the pressure on his mattress that woke him up. His room was completely dark, but he knew the smell of her anywhere. Casey wiggled under his comforter, her icy cold feet startling Derek as they pressed against his own. She looked at him in the black of the night, her eyes brimming over with sincerity and something much darker.

"Casey, what are you doing here?" he asked, panicking a bit.

"Being very stupid, and taking your advice."

Half awake, and very confused, Derek just blinked at her. She sighed and raised herself up on one arm. "Most of the time, I'm happy doing things for other people, because most of the time I don't know what I want. Well, I finally figured out what I do want, and I know I can't really have it, not in full. But I figured that a taste would be better than nothing at all."

It dawned on him slowly, and he gulped, not expecting her to have acted on anything he said. Though, if anyone could have provoked her, it would have been him. He stared into her dark blue eyes, and was silent for a moment.

Casey shifted one of her legs in between his own, and suddenly he was hyper aware of how close they were, and how little she was wearing, and how she was breathing heavily, so that when she leaned closer and whispered, "can I taste?" into his ear, the only thing he could do was to kiss her savagely.

She kissed back, as if possessed by a demon, or rather like he was the demon, and she the devil worshipper, trying to draw his strength into her body. They were writhing within minutes, and the covers were kicked to the floor, because their skin was too hot, but they clung to each other because it was too cold otherwise. She stayed on top of him, and he let her, half because it felt so damn good, and half because he loved the way she looked, proud and defiant, and so incredibly Casey, that he knew things would be okay, at least for tonight.

**Author's Note:**

**My apologies for taking so damn long on this chapter, and on Thursday. I've hit a bout of LWD writer's block, and I'm also working on some original fiction which is taking up my lunch hours at work, when I used to write these fics. I am still planning on continuing them, but unfortunately, I have no idea when the next chapters will be out.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, especially Glykera, Irawr-kickbutt, Chica, jeytonlover, grace, Casaundra, MhxxPaperdoll, Oasis Blackmore, anony-mousie, J-raja, alfabiteater, the evil rabbit, redpolkadots, silverjazz, and KylaraDesu. Please keep reading, because I think this story is only going to get more interesting!**

**Carolyn**


	4. What Is and What Should Never Be

**Chapter 4: What Is and Should Never Be**

That morning and the next few mornings were awkward for Casey. She'd slide out of his bed, Derek sound asleep next to her, tiptoe to his door, trying hard not to trip over the piles of clothes strewn across the floor, and make her way back to her room, all without making a sound. She was embarrassed that she'd caved. She thought she was a stronger person than that. But who was she kidding? When it came to Derek, she always caved.

Derek's appetite returned with a vengeance, and once again he was eating everything in sight. His snacking issues were what started the two bickering again; he stole her sandwich, and she started yelling. It was if the family breathed a collective sigh of relief; Casey was back to normal.

Even though they spent the nights together, Casey still found herself staring at Derek when he wasn't looking. Their relationship remained largely unchanged, other than their night time exploits. They fought, she sighed, he smirked, and they both lied to their family about each other.

"Derek," Nora called from the kitchen where she was finishing up the dinner dishes. "Can you go pick up Casey from dance tonight?"

"Why?" he whined at her from in front of the TV. Sunday nights he considered his lazy time. Well, lazier time.

She shot him a look made of daggers, up to the elbows in dish soap. "Go pick up Casey!"

"Fine, fine." He slumped off the couch, and grabbed his keys off the table. "I'll go pick up the little princess."

"Thank you, Derek." Nora replied, distracted by her chores.

Derek grinned inwardly. He rather liked to go to Casey's dance studio, to watch her prance around in tights and leotards. And though it was kind of hot to see her stretch in clothes that clung so tightly to her, he mostly loved watching her face. Because when she was dancing, she seemed so blissful, like it was the one thing she loved most in the world. She was on another plane when she danced, like a sprite or an angel, who deigned to touch down and share a bit of her soul with mere mortals.

He felt silly, thinking like that about Casey, of all people, so he just smirked and kept his thoughts to himself. Pulling up to the studio, he knew he was early so he snuck into the back of the room, where all the mothers were waiting, and plopped down into one of the rickety plastic chairs by the dance floor.

Music was drifting out of the stereo speakers at the front of the class, and most of the girls, all in high school were gathered at the sides of the room, watching the rehearsal in front of them. Their leotards were numerous colors, but all of their tights were ballerina pink. Most had their toe shoes on, though some had untied them, done for the evening.

Casey, Ben, and a blonde girl named Marissa that Derek had met briefly at the studio, were the only ones dancing. Ben and Marissa were holding hands in the center of the floor, while Casey was doing most of the actual dancing, pirouetting and leaping about, moves which had French names that Derek couldn't remember, let alone pronounce.

She and Marissa finally joined hands, and she dragged her away from Ben, and they spun around together, until Mrs. Corningsmith waved her hands and turned off the music.

"Marissa!" she shouted, "you're not in time with Casey. It's tap, tap, and then flourish!"

"Sorry," the blonde girl muttered, shooting a dirty look at an oblivious Casey.

Mrs. Corningsmith just shook her head. "Practice, practice. Marissa, don't make me reassign your role with only one month until curtain." She sighed and coughed the way that old people are bound to when they exert themselves. "Anyway, class is adjourned for tonight."

The girls clunked off of the dance floor, the hard tips of their toe shoes thunking on the wood. Casey placed a hand on the barre and bent down to untie her ribbons. She caught Derek's gaze as he watched her and blushed. He didn't want to look away, but he did, still amazed by how graceful she could be when dancing, when she was moving with a purpose, a far cry from the Klutzilla he used to tease.

They didn't say a word as they walked towards Nora's Camry, instead focusing on pulling their coats tighter. The fall weather had faded away; instead, a biting cold crept in as the sun went down, warning them of the snow on its way. She flipped the collar of her light jacket up, wishing she'd brought sweats to wear, rather than just exercise shorts. As she reached for the door handle, Derek tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?" she snapped, cold and grouchy. The look he gave her made her finally break into goose bumps. His eyes seemed to stare straight into her, so that he could actually see the way her stomach fluttered when he was around her. It was almost threatening, that look, dark and lustful, and without warning, Derek pushed her back against the car door and kissed her possessively.

There was just something about Casey when she danced.

He had her pinned to the car, plundering her mouth, slipping his hands under her jacket to stroke her shaky body, and Casey couldn't help but surrender to the ferocity of it all, gasping between kisses and dying for him to touch her just so.

But one of her classmates started a car a little ways off, and the sound of the engine broke her out of her reverie, and she pushed Derek back, still breathing heavily.

"Not in public, Derek. Especially not where people know me and you. What if we get caught?"

He uttered a cynical chuckle, but left her alone. In fact, he didn't say anything to her the entire ride home. He pulled into the driveway of their lived in brick house, narrowly avoiding the Davis' sedan, when Casey decided to attempt conversation again.

"Derek?"

"What?" He killed the engine.

"I don't think we should do this anymore. It's not healthy."

"Do this? Where I drive you around cuz your mom's busy?" he snarked at her, not in the mood for any serious talks, let alone the one she was trying to have. "Or did you mean the 'this' where you crawl into bed with me so I can fuck you senseless?" He was trying to piss her off, and it was working.

"You know what I meant." The words hung like icicles off her lips. Still, she didn't want to see his face as she continued, "Mrs. Corningsmith taped my Summer recital, because I haven't been able to travel to auditions anywhere. She sent it to a couple of schools, and one even offered me a small scholarship, which I've decided to accept."

Derek's stomach sank, but he kept his chest puffed out, showing off his machismo and whatnot. "That's great, but I don't get why we're talking about it."

"I got into Juilliard. In New York."

"Congrats." The word fell far from being congratulatory. "But you won't be leaving until this Summer anyway." He touched her arm, trying to get her attention.

She wouldn't give it to him. "I need to wean myself off of you, Derek. I made a huge mistake." Her voice quavered, and the icicles fell from her mouth, stabbing him repeatedly. "If I don't…correct it now, I…I never should have been so weak."

That night, it was Casey's mattress that sunk under the weight of a second body. She pushed Derek away as he tried to slide under the covers with her.

"Stop it, Derek," she hissed, tired of his games. "I told you I can't do this anymore."

She expected him to puff out his chest and list all of his wonderful attributes, the infuriatingly arrogant way he usually did when questioned, but he just paused, silent.

His voice was barely a whisper, his finger tracing the outline of her face with a softness he'd never shown her before. "If this is a mistake tonight, it will still be a mistake tomorrow morning."

He bent to kiss her, and she didn't resist, couldn't resist. It was Derek kissing her, then her kissing Derek, and then it didn't matter if she was under the blankets, or if he was on top of them, all they knew was that they had to be closer, so the blankets were pushed aside.

He stripped her of her PJs, she hurriedly pushed off his boxers, longing for that skin to skin contact. She almost protested when he stopped kissing her, but as his lips trailed down her chest and across the plains of her belly the protest died, trampled by the moans trying to escape.

They were selfless together that night, something completely foreign to both of them. As they laid panting in the afterglow, their eyes met and Casey wished as hard as she could that it wouldn't be a mistake in the morning when she had to get up and face her family, the weight of the night before heavy on her shoulders.

----------

"Mom, you don't need to walk me back to the dorms. I've been living here for three months now! I should be the one demanding to guide you back!" Casey protested as the whole MacDonald-Venturi clan pushed their way out of an authentic New York pizzeria.

"But Casey, this city is so big, and there are so many people here…anything could happen to a beautiful young woman," her mother countered, mimicking the telephone conversation they'd had every week.

"Then why do you let Derek wander around Toronto unsupervised?" she whined.

"I've got a great idea," George interrupted, hoping to keep the situation from escalating. The two MacDonalds looked at him expectantly. The third MacDonald had wandered down the street with Edwin, chatting about the natural history museum.

"Why doesn't Derek take Casey home, that way she'll be safe, and we only have to pay for subway tickets for one person." George smiled winningly at his wife. "You're always saying we need to conserve more."

Nora frowned, but consented. Casey just frowned. She'd been in New York since graduation, living with her dad, and now it was September, and the rest of the clan decided to visit for parent's day. She'd moved into the dorms, and had a semblance of a social life; her roommate was from NYC and knew all the cool places to party. And every Sunday she'd get on the subway and go visit her dad in Manhattan. It was an easy life, not entirely stress free because of classes, but she definitely felt she had more room to stretch and grow. But still, she hadn't been able to bring herself to date, to forget the nagging feelings for a boy she'd known in Canada, for the boy she knew was wrong for her.

When she found out they were dragging Derek to New York, she tried to veto the whole trip. The last months in London, the two had still fought, but it was half hearted fighting, and most of the time they wouldn't even look at each other, let alone talk to each other. Casey and Derek didn't want to talk about it, so the rest of the family didn't want to talk about it. If you ignore a problem hard enough, it'll go away, right?

The subway was about as quiet as a subway was going to get at nine at night on a Saturday, which is to say it was very very loud, and very very crowded. Casey did her best to try and not look Derek in the eyes, and succeeded until the doors opened at the station before hers. Another influx of people threatened to push them to opposite sides of the car. Casey grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him next to her. When the jostling and bumping of the passengers ceased, she was pressed against his chest, stuck staring at his grim expression.

"And here I thought you didn't like me like that," he sneered.

"I don't." Casey glared at him.

Just like the cat, it was Derek's curiosity that got him into the most trouble. He'd been curious about New York, never having been there, so he agreed to the family trip. He'd been secretly curious about Casey's life in New York, what she did, where she lived, who she dated, so he'd agreed to take her home. But now that she was pressed so close to him, and better yet, pissed off at him, he knew he was in deep trouble.

Fortunately, the sidewalk wasn't crowded so he managed to walk at least three feet away from her all the way to her dorm. He almost bumped into her as she stopped just short of the front steps.

"The subway is just two blocks that way," she gestured, not even looking at him.

"What?" The sarcasm just came naturally when he was with her, "you're not even going to invite me in for a cup of coffee?" An eyebrow wiggled suggestively at her.

"Derek, stop it!" She hissed, turning to face him. "Don't be gross."

He had to laugh out loud at that. "Gross? Casey, come on. You've been avoiding me as best you can for the past oh, eight months because you think I'm gross? Unlikely. Besides, I'm the one who got you into this building, I think I deserve to have a tour!"

There was a rhythm to their fights. First the comment, then the insult, then the retort, and then a rebuttal. Even eight months of not speaking couldn't break the habit, as Casey couldn't resist spitting back, "You? I'm the one who worked my ass off to get here, who taught five year olds to skip to pay for my lessons! You sat on your goddamn chair in front of that stupid TV for all of high school. I earned this scholarship! I don't even know what you have to do with it!"

It was a slow and steady waltz. He led, getting up into her face. "Give credit where credit's due, Case. If it wasn't for me, you would have never even dreamed up the choreography that got you that scholarship. And it was my CD! Which you never returned, thank you very much."

Casey sniffed, suddenly very uncomfortable in the lack of personal space. "Fine, you want your CD back so badly, I'll go get it for you."

"Oh no. I want in. I want to see what's so damn great about Juliana."

"It's Juilliard, and you wouldn't understand."

She swiped her key in the door and pushed him through. It looked very much like any other dorm, although the décor in the lobby had a distinctive 'performing arts' theme.

The desk attendant, a pretty girl with blue hair called out to them as Casey led him over to the elevators. "Remember Casey, no visitors past ten!"

The girl pointed at the clock on the wall, letting them know it was already nine-thirty.

"Don't worry Dora, he won't be here that long." She waved. Casey stared at the numbered lights above the elevator doors, trying to ignore the awkward silence. She had never been more relieved to hear the ding of the doors sliding open, as it meant that she had to endure less time in his presence. Derek watched her every move openly, knowing it would only make her more jittery. An anxious Casey was an out of control Casey, and that was the way he liked her best.

"Oh, hold the doors will ya!" A shout came from the lobby and a petite blonde girl pushed her way into the small steel cabinet. "Thanks Casey."

"No problem Jessica," Casey replied softly. This was taking far too long.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Jessica had taken one long look at Derek and reacted like most girls, turning into an instant flirt. Derek smirked as Jessica batted her eyes innocently.

"Jessica, this is Derek, Derek this is Jessica. She lives on the floor above me." Her lips flattened into a thin line. When would this torture end?

"So, Derek," Jessica drawled, her voice dropping an octave, "are you from Canadia, too?"

"I don't know what you're talking aboot," he answered, making her giggle. "I'm just visiting for a few days with my family."

"How are you liking New York?" She laid a manicured hand on his arm, completely ignoring the other occupant of the car.

"A little bit better, now." He grinned at Jessica and she ate it up. His gaze flickered over to Casey, trying to gauge her reaction. The heat from the glare she was giving the metal doors should've melted holes in them.

Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore of Jessica's inane prattling and Derek's smarmy lines, the elevator opened on her floor.

"See you soon, Derek!" Jessica called as Casey dragged him down the hall.

Turning the key in her lock, Casey couldn't resist remarking, "You haven't changed at all. You still have terrible taste in women."

"No, I have great taste in women. I just prefer my women slutty." Casey's dorm room reminded him a lot of her room at their house, full of pink fluffy things and decorative pillows, only it was smaller, and had two beds. She went over to her CD rack, and started scanning it, looking for the right case.

"Well, to each his own, I guess," she retorted, not an ounce of tolerance in her voice.

"I can't help it if American chicks love foreigners. And I can't help it that I'm naturally charming, not to mention incredibly good looking."

"You forgot incredibly pompous."

"This isn't arrogance, it's confidence."

Snatching the Led Zeppelin CD from the rack, she whirled to face him and smacked right into his chest. She let out a yelp; Casey hadn't expected him to be that close. She really didn't want him to be that close to her. Heart pounding in her ears, she stepped back, nearly toppling the CDs onto the floor. She thrust the particular case towards him.

"Here. You can go now. Unless you want to stop by the fifth floor and say goodbye to Jessica first," she snapped, off balance.

The waltz began again. He stepped forward, and she bit her lip, staring at him eyes wide. "Maybe I will. What room number is she?"

"Like I know." The blue eyes narrowed, and she jabbed the CD at him.

Derek smirked, grabbing her hand. His lips brushed her ear as he leaned close, slipping the case from her grasp. "You shouldn't be so jealous, you know. You have a much nicer rack."

The tingles shot down her spine. This was quickly heading into territory she'd been trying to avoid for months, territory she'd successfully avoided for months. But now that he was here, and her family wasn't sleeping down the hall, it was hard to keep thoughts of them in her head. Especially with him so close, breathing in his cologne.

"How would you know? You haven't seen them in months." She whispered.

He kissed the corner of her jaw, just below her ear. "Well, maybe it's time I reevaluated my position."

Her eyes fluttered shut as his lips dropped to her neck. Small hands found their way under his shirt, and she gasped as his teeth scraped along her shoulder. When his mouth moved to the prominent nipples poking through the cotton of her blouse, she pulled his head away.

"Derek, it's almost ten."

He rolled his eyes. "You are such a worry wart." He went back to suckling on her tits as she ground her hips against him. "Besides, everything with you is foreplay. All we need to do now is actually fuck."

She tried to scold him for using that language, but he'd unzipped her jeans and she couldn't think about language or family or anything but the way his fingers felt caressing her.

**Author's Notes:**

**Well, it's been awhile since I've updated. I'm so sorry! Forgive me! I actually cut this chapter short, so I think I'm going to end up writing another chapter, making the total count up to 6, rather than 5 (yes, we're that close to the end.)**

**I really want to thank everyone for their reviews. Those are a huge motivation for me to keep at this story. I don't know if I'd keep writing if I thought no one liked it. Anyway, I've got a lot more in store for these two yet, so stay tuned, even though I am a ridiculously slow updater.**

**And though I know it's a bit of an early teaser, there's going to be two version of the end! It sounds kinda wacky, but you'll see what I mean…when we get there. Thanks again for reading!**

**Carolyn**


	5. Black Dog

**Chapter 5: Black Dog**

It was two years before Casey went home again. There was always some excuse, like summer workshops for jazz or tap, vacations with her roommate to Hawaii, or the ever useful 'I have too much homework.' However, the summer between her junior and senior years, Nora put her foot down.

So instead of sweating it out in her dad's apartment in Manhattan, Casey was lounging with a book on a familiar couch in London, Ontario. There are things in life that cannot be avoided. Some call it fate, some call it God, the MacDonald/Venturi household was inclined towards gravity, because whenever Casey and Derek were in the same room together, they were drawn into a fight with each other.

The fight they had when Casey found out her room had been converted into a home gym was epic.

"What do you mean share a room with Lizzie!" She screeched at Nora. "Lizzie doesn't even have a double bed!"

"Well, that's kind of the point. We'll be able to stretch the air mattress out on her floor for you," Nora responded calmly, trying to placate her eldest daughter.

"I'm not spending my entire summer sleeping on an air mattress. Do you know how bad that is for your back?" Casey refused to back down. "Why can't I have Derek's room?" She asked, looking pointedly at her mother.

The air in the living room suddenly became alive with tension. The three youngest had been watching Nora and Casey from the couch, and spontaneously decided to head upstairs for cover. George and Derek had been sitting at the dining room table, Derek happily munching on a sandwich, and George going over some legal briefs.

"What?" Derek sputtered. "She can't have my room."

"And why not?" Nora spun around and looked at the two bewildered men. "I mean, George, Derek doesn't really live here anymore. He's got his own place near the university. He doesn't need his own room."

"Yes, I do!" He dropped the sandwich to his plate. "I need it when I come over here!"

"Derek, be reasonable, you only are over here once a week," Nora countered. George remained wisely mute.

"I use it to do my homework!" He alleged, grasping for straws. His eyes narrowed, regarding the smug look on Casey's face. "And when there's bad weather!"

"It's summer! What weather?"

"And when Sam has a girl over at the apartment!"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Using that excuse, we'd be more likely to see Sam over here."

"I am shocked you would say something like that, Case. Dad, you can't let her impugn my honor and take over my hard won territory, all in one day."

"Casey," George began in a warning tone, "I know it'd be a little cramped in Lizzie's room, but I mean, Derek's room hasn't changed too much from when you were still living here, would you really want to put up with that mess?"

"I can clean it!" Casey volunteered, with a condescending smile at Derek.

"See, George, she'll even do years worth of work, and knowing Casey, she can get it done in a week!" Nora added, putting pressure on her husband.

George grinned weakly at his eldest son. "You can't argue with that."

Derek pushed his plate back and stood, furious. "There is no way I'm letting her go through my stuff!"

Arms crossed and chin high, Casey cocked an eyebrow at him. "And what are you going to do about it? I'm staying here for the next two months, and there's no way I'm going to sleep in such a pig sty."

"Then sleep on the couch!" He stalked over to her, steam practically rising from his ears.

"Why is this such a big deal for you? I just need a bed for two months!"

"You can have any bed in this house, you just can't have mine!"

"You are such a self-centered jerk!" She practically spat the words at him.

"You're no shining example of sacrifice, either!" He responded with equal venom. "I can't believe you're even here, after you've tried to avoid us all for so fucking long!"

"Derek!" George yelled, "Watch your language."

Casey's face was beet red, and Derek's wasn't far from it. They were only inches apart, and she licked her lips nervously and looked away from him. His brown eyes bored into her, and it was too much to take.

"Fine." He tore his gaze away and stormed out of the house.

Nora put her arms around her daughter and Casey relaxed a bit. "You know he didn't mean that. You've just been busy, we know that, sweetheart."

"Yeah," she muttered, staring out the door swinging shut.

----------

As in ballroom dancing, there is never a step forward without a reactionary step backwards. And so Derek waited. Casey had won a battle, but he would win the war. She'd tried so hard to distance herself from her family, tried to distance herself from him, and he was determined to remind her exactly what she was missing. It grated on him to see her so happy and not paying any attention to him.

"So, how's Jason?" Nora asked, passing the peas down to Lizzie. It was their traditional Sunday dinner, and everyone, even Derek, had shown up for some quality 'family time.'

"He's doing well. He's interning with my dad," Casey paused to cut her chicken, "again this summer."

"Jason?" Derek raised his eyebrow.

"My boyfriend." Casey kept her eyes on the chicken.

"And how long have you and Jason been dating?" Derek asked with faux interest.

"Three months." Casey took the peas from Lizzie, passing them on to George.

"That must be a record. What did you do, Case? Blackmail him?"

"Derek," Nora reprimanded. "You should invite him up here for a weekend. I would love to meet him."

"I don't know if that would be such a good idea…Jason's..."

"A tool?" Derek interrupted.

"Normal," Casey finished with a glare in her stepbrother's direction. He just smirked; glad to finally get under her skin.

"Somehow I doubt that, considering he's dating a freak like you." Derek pushed just a little harder.

"At least I date seriously, not serially." The anger was starting to seep into her voice again, and her blue eyes had a dangerous glint to them. It made Derek smile, and suddenly he knew exactly how to throw her off kilter again.

"Whatever." Derek shook his head and everyone else at the table breathed a sigh of relief as the moment passed. Even Casey looked confused by his sudden maturity. She kept glancing across at him, troubled by the smirk that wouldn't leave his lips.

----------

It was a week and a half before Derek's lame excuses became real circumstances. Sam had started dating a blonde girl named Tabitha and had decided that it was finally time for them to become intimate, so Derek bailed, looking for a place to stay. Derek was uncomfortable being a real grown-up. Sam had finally put his foot down. Sharing the apartment with Sam meant actually sharing the apartment, not Derek gets to do what he wants and everyone goes along. The first time Derek had tried to take over; Sam had refused to pay the rent, saying that if he didn't have any rights to the apartment, why should he pay for it. Derek couldn't argue, since he couldn't afford the 600$ a month by himself.

To make matters worse, the minute that Derek set foot on his front porch, the skies seemed to open up. The rain didn't let up all evening, and the flash flooding on the news was making Nora worried.

Derek threw open the door to his room and plopped his backpack on the bed at Casey's feet. She had the phone against her ear and a smile on her face, but her expression quickly soured at the sight of her step-brother.

"Out!" Derek pointed gleefully at the door.

Casey rolled her eyes. "One minute, Jason," she said and then pressed the phone to her chest. "What do you want?"

"I have to stay here tonight, so you have to get out. This is my room," he answered triumphantly, emphasizing the 'my.'

"What? No way!" Jason muttered something that Derek couldn't hear. Casey put the phone back up to her ear. "Sorry honey. Yeah, that's Derek. Can I call you back?"

Derek tapped his foot impatiently. "Blah, blah, blah. Get out!"

"You are such an ass! No Jason, not you. Okay baby…love you…bye!" Casey stabbed the end call button with a slender finger, and then shook it at her nemesis. "Oh, no, I am not leaving. Mom and George decided that this is my room for the summer. The whole summer, not just the 'whenever Derek finds it convenient' summer." She crossed her arms over her chest. Her blue eyes met his brown ones with a defiant glare.

Grinding his teeth, Derek didn't move. He couldn't stand when she did this. It made him feel impotent, and with a legitimate claim to his room, it gave him even less control over what he still considered his domain. Casey kicked the backpack off the bed, and the thunk of it hitting the floor spurred him to action.

"Fine, Case. Don't move if you don't want to." And with that, he lay down on top of her, using her chest as a pillow.

Predictably, Casey freaked.

"Get off me!" She shrieked, batting at him with the hand that wasn't pinned under him. Derek had gained some bulk since his high school days, and she could feel her lungs compressing.

"I'm not moving until you do." He wiggled his butt to punctuate his point.

"You're disgusting, Derek," Casey huffed; wishing she could cross her arms and stomp off. She knew she could of course, but there was no way she was losing this fight.

"Hey, you're the one who started this," he snapped at her, and Casey had the feeling he was no longer talking about the battle for the bedroom.

"I didn't start shit," she mumbled into his hair.

"Stop pouting, Case, I can't hear you."

"I said, I didn't start shit." She drew out the curse word as much as she could while trying to maintain her composure. "You were up on your high horse from the very beginning! You wouldn't let me be your friend, let alone your sister!"

"Yeah, but you're the one getting all emotional over this shit." He mocked her condescending tone.

"Me? I'm not the one acting like a giant baby because someone else is sleeping in their bed!"

"Maybe if that was the case, I'd be a little less adamant about you leaving." Derek nuzzled his face suggestively against the side of her breast. Casey was very glad he couldn't see her blush. "But then again, I doubt that."

"Asshole. Get off." Casey shoved hard, rolling him on to the bed and stalked out the door, shaking with barely restrained violence.

Not for the first time, Derek wished he'd never met the MacDonald family, one in particular. Casey always brought out the worst in him, when she was around, anyway. It was as if her presence flipped a switch, turning him into the biggest jerk. Since she'd gone to New York, Derek's relationships had improved drastically. George didn't yell at him so much anymore, he managed to keep his last girlfriend for almost six months before she caught him flirting with another girl.

Artificially blonde, and superficially an actress, Natasha had been an odd choice, or so Edwin told him, for a long-term relationship. But the sex was good, and she did introduce him to acting, something he never would have considered otherwise. Remembering he still had work to do, Derek pulled a thin script out of his backpack and acted like he was concentrating on it.

----------

Avoidance was an art, and both Casey and Derek were old masters. If they were ever in the house at the same time, they weren't in the same room. Derek spent most of his time at his apartment, enjoying the freedom of being a single man. Casey spent most of her time on the phone, enjoying the routine of coupledom. It wasn't so much fate that made them put an end to their skilled pas d'évasion, but modern technology.

She was camped on the couch, legs tucked under her, brows knitted. Her fingers flew over the controller to the family's X-box. Casey was so involved in the game she didn't even hear the front door creak open and a hung-over Derek shuffle towards the kitchen. It wasn't until he settled into his favorite chair munching loudly on some corn pops, that he made himself known.

"Holy crap, is that Babe Raider 4?" Pops spilled out of his mouth.

Casey's head jerked up and the bust professor on screen jumped off the cliff she was scaling. "What? No! Goddammit, now I'm going to have to start over from the beginning of the level!"

"When did we get this?" he asked, ignoring her despair.

"Edwin bought it last night. We've been playing all day, but Mom made him and Lizzie go to the store with her."

Casey restarted the level, but died two minutes into it. Letting out a groan of frustration, Casey tossed the controller at Derek. "Here. You play, I need a break. Where's the phone? I want to call Jason."

"I can't believe you're still dating that retard. He doesn't suit you at all." The level began again, this time with a man at the helm.

"How would you know? You've never met him." Casey rolled her eyes and cast about for the phone.

"I can tell you're not happy. You have a bigger stick stuffed up your ass than usual." Derek had already made it to the cliff that Casey had died on before.

"I am so happy. And you're a jerk!" A pillow smacked Derek in the head and distracted him from the game, causing his busty professor to lose her grip as well.

"No, you're not." He threw the pillow back at her. "And at least I'm honest."

The game was forgotten as the two stared each other down. Derek couldn't resist getting up in her face. "You put your boyfriends on a pedestal and then act surprised when they don't live up to your expectations!"

"What expectations!" Casey's self righteousness rose to the surface. "Anyone can see that Jason's intelligent…"

"Boring," Derek interrupted.

"Organized…"

"Anal-retentive."

"Ambitious…"

"Stuck up."

"And handsome!" She finished with a growl.

Derek snorted. "Handsome? This from a girl who's track record includes Sam the fish boy, and Max 'my head's too small for my body' Henderson. Go on; tell me he's good in bed. I have so many retorts for that one that I'm curious to see which one pops out."

Casey stuck out her bottom lip and leaned back against the couch, tearing her eyes away from his. Leaning half over the arm of the couch, Derek tried to get her to make eye contact with him, but she neatly avoided that trick.

"But no," he cackled, "you haven't slept with him yet. Don't want to spoil your image as the uptight prude, I guess. I suppose those New York types like that in their women. If only Jason knew how wild you could be."

"Jason and I have a mature relationship. He doesn't have sex on the brain every waking minute, unlike some horndogs I know!" She scooted to the far end of the couch to put some distance between herself and Derek's irritating smirk.

"Jason doesn't think about sex?" Derek shook his head. "Casey, Casey, Casey. I wish you had told me that you liked to date girls before, cuz that's kinda hot."

Casey snarled in frustration. "Why do I even bother?"

Shrugging, Derek smiled. "I don't get it either. You know I always win. I'm surprised you even try anymore."

Her mood flicked from outraged to somber. "Everything is always a game to you, Derek. I stopped trying with you a long time ago. It's just taken me awhile to stop believing in you." She sniffed and wiped a sleeve across her eyes. "But you're right. You'll always win. Don't be proud of that, though. It doesn't make you better than anyone. It just makes you a selfish, manipulative bastard. And I for one am fucking sick of it."

Clenching her jaw to ward off the tears, Casey ran upstairs. Derek watched her go in silence, mouth agape.

----------

There was a mound of clothes, books, and various toiletries waiting to be sorted, folded and packed away into Casey's two bags, one carry on, and one personal item. She'd made it almost half way through when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," she called, not bothering to look up.

"Nora told me you were leaving tomorrow."

She whirled around. Derek was leaning against her door, hands in pockets. His voice was quiet.

"What do you want?" A sock flicked in her hand like a whip.

"Easy there tiger. I just wanted…I dunno…to say goodbye, I guess."

"Oh." For once, it was Casey searching Derek's face, and his gaze dancing across the carpet. She lowered the sock, and turned back to her packing. "Well, goodbye then."

Derek didn't move; he just watched her fold and pack, like the busy bee she was. Casey nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. The air sparked with tension, but she was bent on ignoring it, probably her most difficult task on her to-do list.

"Have I ever made you do anything you didn't want to do?" Derek broke the silence first and instantly regretted it.

The question made her pause, pink tank top in hand. "Of course you have. Every chore you didn't want to do, lie to your girlfriends, lie to our parents…"

"I meant with us. Between us." He was very glad that she couldn't see him right now, because even his theater training wasn't helping to disguise the distress on his face.

Her silence was deafening. She heard the doorknob turn. "Derek."

He turned back, and he caught the same pained expression in her eyes. "Everything we have done, I have wanted to."

Nodding, he stepped into the hall. "I just wanted to make sure."

**Author's Notes:**

**I had never planned on writing this chapter, but so far it's my favorite. I hope y'all like it too. To me, it's a little more back to the meat & bones of Dasey, their conflict, which is what makes them so hot together.**

**Anyway, I only got six reviews for the entirety of chapter 4, so I wanted to thank ShayBoBay, Chica, Jannikajade, KRB, FireEyedQueen, and Volleygal personally. I get a lot of my will to write from my reviews, so it's very inspiring to know that I still have readers.**

**The end is near, friends, so please, keep reading, and please can get more than six reviews for this chapter?**

**Carolyn**


	6. The Wanton Song

**Chapter 6: The Wanton Song**

"Casey you have to invite him; he's family," Nora chastised.

"Fine," Casey sighed into the phone perched on her shoulder, "he's invited, but strongly encouraged not to come."

"Excellent. Are you sure you want to have this in New York? We have some great locations right here in London, and I know this fabulous bakery that'd be willing to give us a deal on a cake."

"Mrs. Albright would throw a fit mom, you know that. Besides, the church is quite lovely."

"And they are paying for the wedding," Nora finished. Casey couldn't help but wince. Even over the phone the disappointment in her mom's voice was clear.

"You're too practical sometimes, Casey."

"Well, I'm not letting Mrs. Albright take over everything. Pink and green as the wedding colors? Over my dead body."

"Mmm, stand firm on that one. I always pictured your wedding in…lilac and butter yellow."

"Mom, weren't those your wedding colors?"

Nora laughed, "You caught me. I'm just nostalgic right now. You and Jason remind me so much of my first marriage."

"Is that a good thing?" Casey asked, a little put out.

"Of course! I mean, I know we got divorced and all, but that was so far down the line, and it really was, I mean..."

"Not helping."

"What I mean was that we were very much in love. And I'm hanging up before I stick my foot in my mouth any more. I love you Casey, don't work too hard, you still have six months left."

Casey couldn't help but smile. Somehow, that always was the way their conversations ended. "I love you too mom. See you soon."

The line went dead, and Casey looked down at the list of invites next to her. The last person she wanted at her wedding was her stepbrother, but family was family, so with a final sigh, and a troubled mind, she wrote Derek Venturi on the bottom.

------------

"I'm not going." Derek was glad his dad couldn't see his face over the phone. "Production schedules have moved up. This is my first big role..."

"I'm sure your producer would give you a few days off to go to your own sister's wedding," George pleaded.

"Step-sister," Derek corrected without thinking.

"Whatever." George was stern now. "Get the time off. We're going, and we're going as a family. Together. I've bought your ticket for the 29th. Pack for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, you can leave the next day, but you will be there." He hung up, amazed at how frustrating it still was to try and get Derek to do something against his will. The boy was twenty-four for chrissake.

Derek stared blankly at the phone in his hand. New York was the last place he wanted to go. And watching Casey get married was the last thing he wanted to do. His stomach lurched. This was not going to be a pleasant month, despite his big break. His fingers ran back over the buttons, dialing the only number he had memorized.

"Figures," he muttered as the machine picked up.

"Hey, it's Marti, but I'm too busy and important to talk to you right now, so leave a message and I might get back to you. Maybe. But your chances aren't looking good." The beep sounded and the gurgling in his stomach became harder to ignore.

"I need some help picking out a present for Casey's wedding. What can I get her that says 'Congratulations, but your new husband's a tool!' Call me."

He hung up and gazed out the window. Casey was getting married. Cradling the phone, he grabbed his keys and went on a hunt for some antacids.

------------

Mrs. Albright had gone out of her way to make the first meeting of the families a pleasant affair. They rented out a room in a very nice Italian restaurant, bought several bottles of wine, and had some imported cheese waiting for them at their table. It wasn't until the several bottles of wine had been opened that the Albrights-from-upstate found the MacDonald-Venturis-from-London-Canada-not-England-haha very pleasant.

Tammy Albright hadn't left Derek alone the whole evening. She was Jason's cousin, and according to everyone, very accomplished, but Derek just found her boring, and not particularly attractive. She was too blonde, he said when Edwin asked why he was hiding in the bathroom. Edwin just gave him an odd look.

Marti was more than a little grumpy that George and Nora had vetoed the wine tasting she had planned, quoting the American laws on alcohol. Lizzie and Edwin however, still managed somehow to snag some away from their older siblings. They were almost twenty one anyway, George retorted. It had become a game for Marti to point out the inconsistencies in their parenting, and just today she'd racked up twelve points. Adults were annoying for the most part Marti decided, and so she was the one who decided to drag Derek out of the bathroom.

"I am not going back out there with Tammy and her well groomed nails!" Derek whispered, trying to go unnoticed in the small corridor by the bathrooms.

"But I'm bored Smerek. You're the only person who'll make fun of the Albrights with me. Everyone else is trying too hard to "get along," whatever that means," Marti replied, batting her eyelashes.

"No. It's not happening. I can't believe I let myself get talked into coming to this stupid wedding."

Marti sighed. Adults were boring, but Derek often acted younger than her. "Are you serious? It's Casey's wedding, you were obligated to come because you're her family."

"I'm her step-family. And it's not like she wants me here either."

"Stick up their up asses aside, the Albrights are nice. Jason is nice. I don't know exactly what kind of problem you have, but it is getting really old. So grow up and go get me some wine." Marti's tone took a sharp turn that made Derek feel two feet tall.

"You get that tone from mom, just so you know." Derek groused, heading back towards the party and the drinks.

Dinner was served family style. As a symbolic gesture, Marti hypothesized. Derek ignored her and picked up his spoon. Standing and tapping it against his glass, he cleared his throat. George, who had been reaching for his first portion of a tasty looking ziti in tomato cream sauce, paused, perplexed.

"Excuse me," Derek smiled winningly at the strained faces of his soon to be extended family, and the puzzled ones of his own. "If you haven't met me tonight, I'm Derek Venturi. My guess is that you've still probably heard all about me from Casey, but only the bad stuff, right?"

Edwin snorted, but the joke was lost on the new crowd. Never one to let an awkward moment end, Derek continued, "I know I won't be able to give a speech tomorrow, that's the best man's right, so I was hoping to say a few words tonight." The Albrights looked comforted by this return to tradition, but still confused by the handsome young man giving a speech at a four star restaurant.

"I met Casey when we were both in high school. I know back then she was searching for the perfect guy; someone who is smart, ambitious, good looking, patient." His eyes bored into the bride-to-be. "I'm glad she's finally found what she was always looking for."

The applause was tentative, but the food was getting cold, and Derek sat down, so the uncomfortable speech was dismissed. Even Marti raised her eyebrow at him over her hunk of lasagna. Dinner was noisy, as all dinners with the MacDonald-Venturis tended to be, even though their Albright counterparts attempted to keep their decorum.

Tiramisu came and went, and with it a bold red wine that Derek couldn't help but swirl in his glass idly. He liked watching the patterns it made as it ran down the glass. An ex of his had told him the effect was called 'legs.' She'd worked at a liquor store down the street from his apartment, and was one of the rare brunettes he had asked out. They only dated for two weeks before he decided she wasn't really his type after all.

A hand on his shoulder snapped him back to reality. The way the manicured fingers dug into the muscle gave her identity away instantly.

"We have to talk," Casey hissed into his ear.

Derek just shrugged. "I don't see why? I've already given my thoughts." The trademark smirk settled onto his features.

"Tonight. I'm in suite 405."

"Ooh, a suite. Fancy. Jason sure knows how to take care of his shortie."

She squeezed harder. "You are not funny, I hope you know."

And then she left him alone with his wine and the not quite comforting small talk of his almost family-in-law.

------------

She wrapped a fluffy beige towel hurriedly around herself.

"I'm coming; I'm coming, calm down!" She shouted at the door.

"Gee, Case, take for…" Derek's eyes went wide as Casey opened the door, hair dripping wet, towel wrapped around her body. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" He asked, letting himself into the room.

Her bed was done in golds and whites, with touches of a sky blue on the pillows. There was a plush gold settee in one corner and an ornate desk with a leather chair in the opposite corner. The TV was a flat panel fixed on the wall across from the bed, where Casey had a gardening show on mute.

"Why don't you sit down while I go get my robe?" Casey gestured at the sofa.

"Don't bother. I'm not going to be long. You see I have some pay per view waiting for me back in my room. Though, if you'd rather watch it here, I will not object to high def porn." Derek wandered over to her remote and began flipping channels. "So, what did you want from me?" He wiggled his eyebrow at her.

"You are so…don't be perverse, Derek," Casey sniffed, clutching the towel to her chest. "I just needed to make sure that you weren't planning anything for tomorrow."

"Planning anything?"

"You know. Make a big scene? 'Does anyone object to this union' sort of thing." Casey's right hand migrated to her hip, almost as if she was getting ready to start a shouting match.

Derek put the remote down and placed a hand on her damp shoulder. Casey was forced to tilt her head up to keep eye contact with him. It was the only way she could concentrate on the task at hand, and not the reality of her current situation.

"I told you. I've said my piece."

"Then why don't I believe you?" She raised one eyebrow, and Derek couldn't help but remember their old high school fights. She had this look that was all eyebrow and intelligent blue eyes, and she was using it on him right now. It said 'I know you're up to something, and as soon as I figure it out, you're in big trouble, mister.'

He stepped forward, uncomfortably close to her, and held her still with the hand on her shoulder. Brushing the wet strands of hair out of his way, he whispered in her ear, "Because you still want me."

"You are so arrogant. I'm getting married tomorrow."

He responded by kissing the spot underneath her ear, right behind her jaw. It made every hair on her body stand on end.

"I think, you still want me, and that's the real reason you told me to come up here tonight."

"It is not." She knew she should move, but she didn't. "You are here because you are an instigator and a troublemaker, and I don't want anyone to know about our former relationship."

"No one will know unless you tell them," he breathed against her jaw, his lips making her shiver.

"Derek, stop it." Casey gathered her strength and pushed him back. The back of his knees hit the bed and he sat, thrown off balance.

He smirked at her discomfort. "I don't know why you fight it Casey. You want me, you've always wanted me, and here I am for you to have. What is the big deal?"

She was trying to stare him down, but it was hard to meet his gaze. While his words were taunting and lighthearted, his brown eyes were dark with purpose. Licking her lips, she composed herself by straightening the towel.

"I have learned, in the last couple of years, that there is a big difference between want and need. I…I do want to be with you, you're right. But I know what I need, and I need someone who can take care of me, someone who will laugh with me and not at me, someone loyal, someone devoted, someone who I can tell my mom about without her demanding I go to therapy for incestuous urges." She had to break eye contact before the tears started. She didn't want him to see her cry again. "And I know that even though I wanted it to be, that someone isn't you. But Jason loves me, and wants to marry me, and start a family with me."

The smirk wavered.

"I think you're making a mistake."

Casey's head snapped up.

"I think you're settling," Derek admonished. "You can't have the guy you want, so you're grabbing the next best thing. It's classic psychology Case."

"What do you know about psychology? And you don't know anything about Jason!"

Derek grabbed her towel and pulled. Casey was forced to either lose the towel or step close to him, so she ceded the distance.

"I'm not concerned about Jason. I know you. I know how you react in tough situations. You might have grown up, Casey, and adulthood definitely looks good on you, but that doesn't mean you've changed." Derek wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her stomach. The terrycloth was rough against his cheek.

"You want this. You want to drop that towel and you want me to kiss your stomach, up to your breasts and across your collarbone. You want me to avoid your lips so you can hear yourself whine when I kiss your neck. I know you, and I know exactly how you like it."

Casey shuddered as his hand caressed the exposed part of her thigh.

"I'm getting married tomorrow Derek. I'm going to be Mrs. Jason Albright."

It was his turn to look up at her, and she couldn't help but brush the hair out of his eyes.

"Tonight you're still Casey MacDonald, right?"

"Yes," she murmured as his hand went a little higher.

"Then why don't you drop the towel?"

She did.

**Author's Notes:**

**I'm sorry for taking FOREVER on this chapter, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Unfortunately, this isn't the last chapter, like I had intended it to be, but I hope you all will stick with me through to the end. Chapter 7 should be it!**

**Thank you so much for reading, and please please review, because I take a lot of inspiration from it!**

**Carolyn**


	7. Stairway to Heaven

**Chapter 7: Stairway to Heaven**

It was almost ten years to the day when she had finished packing her room in Toronto for the move to London. Now she was back in a house of her own, unpacking some of her most cherished pictures. The picture of Lizzie in her grade school soccer uniform. The picture of her mother, pregnant, and her father smiling beside the bed she was laying on. The MacDonald-Venturi wedding party. There were new pictures, too, to arrange carefully on the mantle.

There was the one that brilliantly showed off her wedding dress, and the stained glass of the church. There was the picture Jason's mother had taken when they shoved cake in each other's faces. There was the picture of herself, pregnant, and Jason smiling beside the red suede couch she was laying on.

"Mommy, I's bored." The two year old held out the green crayon for Casey to take. "And I want a cookie."

Smiling, Casey scooped up the dark haired girl and blew a raspberry on her cheek. "Well, the good news is that it just so happens to be time for a snack. But we're going to have raisins, not cookies. Okay Miss Hannah?"

Hannah sighed as dramatically as her mother ever had. "But mommy, raisins look like bugs. I don't like bugs."

It was hard not to chuckle with the impish toddler around. "Nice try, sweetie, but no cookies today."

Some celery, some peanut butter, and some raisins later, and it had almost become fun to eat bugs. Casey just hoped that Hannah didn't try to eat real 'ants on a log.' She was screwing the lid back on the peanut butter jar when the doorbell rang. Neighbors had dropped by once or twice already to introduce themselves, so when Casey opened the door with her best I'm-a-very-pleasant-person-who-will-not-I-repeat-not-try-to-dominate-the-community-planning-committee smile, and it was not a new neighbor, she was more than a little disgruntled.

"Nora wanted me to drop these off here." Derek strode past her into the empty living room. "Nice digs."

Casey crossed her arms. "Thanks. Drop what off?"

He shrugged and tossed a plastic bag at her. "Just some stuff you left at their house when you moved into this one." Derek wandered into the kitchen and tapped the wood on the counters. "Nice, solid. Pine?"

"White pine in mellow yellow poly…poly...earth…polyearthtan!" Hannah squealed reaching for a hug from her favorite uncle. Derek swung her out of the chair into her arms.

"If it isn't Hannah-Banana! What've you been doing here?"

"We were eating ants!"

She had to admit that he had a way with kids. Hannah hadn't even met Derek until three weeks ago, but as soon as he showed up at their parents' house, she stuck to him like glue. Casey smiled as she watched Hannah squeal with laughter. Apparently Derek was an excellent tickler.

"Enough, enough guys. Hannah, it's naptime."

"No!" The little girl clung stubbornly to Derek's neck.

"C'mon sweetheart, I'll have Derek tell you a story about when he was a kid." Casey pulled her dark haired daughter off her stepbrother and headed for the nursery. Derek moseyed behind her, intrigued as always by Casey's straightforward parenting style. Kids never complained about her patronizing them, though they didn't always understand what she was saying. Hannah was a bright girl though, well beyond any other two year old he'd met. Her brown eyes were full of life as she struggled in her mom's arms.

"Hannah, you need to take a nap. Otherwise you won't be awake when daddy gets home." Casey tucked the fleece blanket around the little girl.

Petulantly, Hannah kicked the covers off, "No, I wanna stay up and play with Derek!"

Derek smirked. "Don't worry Hannah-Banana, I'll be back soon, so we can play. You need to listen to your mom." He pulled a white chair up next to the crib, and started telling the story of the Princess Casey and the evil Pirate Derek. Hannah listened intently, but soon her eyelids began to droop. The two adults tiptoed out of the room.

The halls had been professionally painted, Navajo white in eggshell, but Casey hadn't yet gotten any of the decorations up on the walls. There was a large wedding portrait leaning against the doorframe to the hall bathroom. He stared at it a minute, resisting the urge to put his foot through it. It'd be so easy, right between Jason's sparkling blue eyes.

"Thanks." Casey broke the uneasy silence. Derek's head snapped up, focusing on her instead. "She hates naps."

"So, when is Daddy Albright getting home anyway?" His tone was light, but Casey knew this wasn't small talk. Nothing with Derek was ever that trivial anymore.

"He usually gets home about seven or eight. The new firm has him working really hard because he's the most junior litigator there." Casey was counting the paces to the door in her head.

"Are there any dance companies in the area you'll be working with?" He followed her, trying to take the shortest steps possible.

"I'm not dancing anymore. Taking care of Hannah is my first priority." Only seventeen more. Sixteen.

"Wait, what?" Derek stopped in his tracks. The living room was Spanish moss done in a semi-gloss finish. It was almost empty except for the white marble mantel and an oriental rug.

Sighing, Casey turned. "I'm not working anymore. I have a two year old daughter. You just said goodbye to her, remember?"

"I just thought that you would never give up dancing. It was the one passionate part of you I thought you would never lock up." He frowned, and reached out to caress her cheek. Even after two years, it still made goose bumps travel down her arms. "Why are you doing this to yourself, Case?"

She slapped his hand away. "Doing what? I'm happy, Derek. I have a family. A nice normal family, who lives in a nice normal neighborhood. Jason loves me, and I love him, and I am happy to stay home and look after our daughter like a good mom," Casey snapped, trying to keep her voice hushed.

"Nora worked, and I think she was a pretty damn good mom," Derek retaliated, a fire flickering in his eyes. "I don't know why you continue to think that you have to do what you should do, rather than what you want to do. They aren't mutually exclusive ideas."

Casey snorted. "What would you know about 'should do'? You're the most irresponsible person I've ever met. You slacked off in school, you break girl's hearts and don't even care, and I'm surprised you've managed to keep your stupid soap job after a few of the stunts you've pulled on set."

"Those were harmless pranks, and the director really shouldn't have leaked that to The Star, and you know it! George Clooney pulls pranks all the time and no one seems to care!"

"You are no George Clooney."

"Obviously. I'm way better looking. And more athletic. But that is completely beside the point." Derek grabbed the hand that had hit him and brought her knuckles to his lips. "In all seriousness Casey, why are you settling for normal when you're capable of extraordinary?"

Neither of them moved. His eyes bored into her, waiting for the answer, and hers glared stubbornly back, not wanting to budge even a millimeter. Gently he kissed her fingers, starting with her thumb, her breath hitching when he pressed the platinum of her wedding ring against his lips.

Ripping her hand from his grasp she pointed at the door. "Get out of my house." She was trying to keep her voice steady, but he could hear the ragged undercurrent of her rage.

He didn't move.

"Get out of my fucking house, Derek!" she screamed so suddenly and so loud that she had to gasp for breath. Her finger stayed steadily pointed at the white wood and etched glass of the front door. Jaw clenched and face burning, Derek stomped to the door and slammed it shut as hard as he could, hoping to break the glass. Break anything.

Hannah started crying, and Casey rushed to the nursery. She picked her up and sang to her baby quietly, peeking out the living room window. Derek's green SUV was already backing out of the driveway.

------------

She had called him once, two months after the wedding. Jason was at work, and the company wasn't rehearsing until four that afternoon. They had gotten a loft, something chic; Jason's family was helping to pay the rent, which was ungodly high in New York.

Casey had been hoping for an answering machine, but Derek picked it up on the third ring.

"Yello," he answered in his typical blasé tone.

"Hi," she squeaked out, trying not to remember the last time they spoke. He hadn't bothered to stay for the reception.

"Casey, how good to hear from you." His sarcasm was never subtle. "Called to tell me I'm right? No? Then please hang up."

"Derek, I'm…" her throat went dry. "I'm calling to thank you for your gift."

"Really? What did I get you?" She could practically hear him smirk over the phone.

"The waffle iron." Casey had taken notes and studied them, hoping to be able to say thank you to any relative by being able to weave it into small talk. That way, it would make her seem more appreciative of a gift because she was bringing it up in casual conversation. "We used it yesterday, when we made Sunday brunch. So thank you."

She hung up promptly. It didn't make the butterflies in her stomach settle down, though.

------------

Snow was piling up on his windshield already, and he'd just turned the wipers off. He switched on the overhead light of the Jeep and searched for the presents he'd tossed in the back seat.

"My mom didn't have your address, so she sent these to my house. Merry Christmas." Derek shook his head. "My mom, Abby, sent me your presents. I guess she thought you were going back to New York for Christmas." He fussed with his hair in the mirror. "I am such a pussy."

He wrapped his scarf around his neck, and grabbed the bag out of his back seat. The white flakes kept gathering in his hair and on his eyelashes as he made his way up the brightly lit driveway. Casey's house was decorated exactly the way he imagined it would be. There were white lights on the bushes and the gutters. The mailbox and railings were trimmed in fresh evergreens. A wreath on the door topped it off, with silver ornaments glued carefully to the pine needles. Not a single sprig was out of place.

Sighing, Derek brushed the snow out of his hair, and knocked. The door flew open immediately.

"I can't believe you made it! Why didn't you call?" Casey practically knocked him over with the force of her hug. "Wait, Derek?"

He knew he looked like a guppy with his jaw hanging open, but he couldn't help it. "You look…" It was impossible for him to finish the sentence because of the floor length silk gown she was wearing. The wine colored fabric matched her hair and blue eyes perfectly, but Derek focused mostly on the sparkly silver broach that was pinning closed what otherwise would've been an indecently revealing slit of the halter neckline. It fit her like a glove, and it was all he could do to walk inside when she gestured for him.

Casey demurely tucked a strand of hair into her neat up do. "Why are you here?" She winced at how standoffish she sounded.

Broken of his reverie, Derek thrust the bag of presents into her hands. "From my mom." The house was fully furnished now. A tasteful painting of a calla lily hung over the mantel. "Why are you all dressed up?"

"Jason and I were supposed to have this big date night. We even took Hannah to her sitter's for the evening."

"Let me guess, he calls saying he can't make it." Resist as he tried, the smirk spread over his lips.

Casey glowered. "He's doing very well at the firm. He has to work late sometimes." She crossed her arms, and Derek's line of vision dropped to her plumped cleavage.

Derek followed the swish of her dress as she took the presents over to the tasteful tree they had set up in the living room. Done in silver and pink, Derek doubted Jason had any input in the decoration. Spotting a handmade ornament in orange and blue, he smiled. Obviously Hannah had some sort of say.

Crouching to arrange the presents, Casey turned to look up at him. "You can stop smiling any time now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Derek tried to look humble, but his ego had a mind of its own. "Jason seems to be a really stand up guy."

"Pardon the pun, no doubt," Casey snorted. Her thumb twisted the platinum ring on her finger.

The silence between the two adults was vast and tangible. It was a viscous liquid, sticky with all of the things they wouldn't say to each other, would never even whisper in a locked room with soundproofed walls.

Derek cleared his throat. "I don't like seeing you unhappy, despite what you may think."

"I am not unhappy," she declared stubbornly, the large stone on the ring digging into her palm.

"Oh, because you seem to be the very picture of joy, standing here in your perfect dress with your perfect hair, in your perfect house with your perfect husband...oh wait." He rolled his eyes. "I'm willing to bet that I'm the only person you still argue with."

"I can't help it if you're the most unpleasant person in my life," she snapped, ignoring the jab at Jason.

"I'm not unpleasant. You've just taken every little bit of fire and spark that Casey MacDonald used to have, and buried it so far down that I'm the only one who still knows it's there. You think that being perfect is all there is to life!" He couldn't keep from shouting, the frustration of years bursting out in one vehement speech.

The tears welled up in her eyes, and she fought to keep them from spilling over, but it was a losing battle. Flustered, Derek reached to hug her, but she pushed his hand away.

"So I'm unhappy, what now? What now, Derek? I don't have the answers to life. I did what I was supposed to do and what now?" she sobbed at him, not even caring about her make up.

It was so hard not to hold her, but he shoved his hands in his pockets since she didn't want to be touched.

"You could leave him," Derek said quietly.

"Give me one good reason." Casey gazed at him intently, mascara smeared on her cheeks. "Why would I be any happier without Jason than I am right now?"

Shrugging, Derek was at a loss for words. "Because, if you're an in a situation you don't like, you get out of that situation."

Casey laughed, a pathetic chuckle. "No, Derek, you run away from situations you don't like. I try to make them livable. I'm so stupid for even asking." She wiped at her eyes. "Thank you for bringing the presents by. I'll have to call Abby to tell her thanks."

Thoroughly confused, Derek let her push him towards the door. "You don't have to pretend with me, Casey. I've seen you worse off than this."

A sad smile lingered at the corner of her mouth as she wiped at her eyes. "This time, Derek, I want you to think long and hard about who is pretending in this relationship. Because at least I'm honest about my feelings for you. Just once, I wish you could return the favor." He frowned, but let her shove him onto the doorstep.

"Thank you again for delivering the gifts."

She shut the door in his face. He banged on the white painted wood so hard it almost shook her wreath off its holder. Trembling, Casey leaned against the door frame. All she wanted, all she needed were three words that he would never be able to say.

----------------

Love Actually was playing on Channel 2 by the time Casey got changed into her sweats. It was only nine o'clock on her big night out, and here she was already binging on Ben & Jerry's. She had wanted to have sex tonight, dammit.

The phone rang and Casey contemplated not answering it. Hugh Grant was about to do his little dance, which was her favorite part. But the phone kept ringing, and she couldn't stand the sound of a ringing phone. It was just above alarm clocks and below dust bunnies on her list of things that annoyed her.

She got up and grabbed it off the cradle. "Hello?"

"Is this Casey MacDonald?" a man's deep voice asked.

"This is Casey Albright, formerly MacDonald," she answered. "May I ask whose calling?"

"My name is Richard Griffin; I'm the check in nurse at Toronto Medical Center. You're listed as the emergency contact for Derek Venturi."

Her mouth went dry. "What…what happened?"

"Mr. Venturi appears to have been in a car wreck. He's stable, but he's in surgery now to set some badly broken bones. We were hoping you…"

"I'll be down there right away."

"Anyone else I should call?" Richard rushed out before she hung up. Heart racing, Casey grabbed her keys and purse off the counter. She didn't even bother putting on her coat before sprinting for her car.

------------

He couldn't reach her head, which was lying near his good leg, but he could reach a tendril of her brunette hair that had floated down near his hand as she fell asleep. He twirled the strands between his fingers, reveling in the texture. It was soft and silky, and reminded him of the dress she had worn earlier that night.

Casey groaned, and the hair slipped between his fingers as she stirred. Stretching, she pulled herself up from the slumped position she'd taken at his bedside.

"You're awake!"

"Keep your voice down, it's almost three a.m." he hushed her, smiling weakly.

"Do you need me to get the nurse? Are you in pain?"

"No, everything's achy, but nothing sharp or stabby. I'm pretty sure they have morphine in there, judging by the size of that cast," he answered, gesturing towards the I.V.

Casey resisted the urge to smooth her hand over the cast on his leg. He'd fractured his leg in several places, had to have pins set in the bone, and cracked two ribs on his left side as well.

"I called mom and George. They'll be here in the morning."

"And I guess you'll be heading out." Derek tried to smirk, but it just didn't settle into the corner of his mouth the way it usually did. So he frowned instead.

"When Jason called, I told him he'd need to pick up Hannah. I figured I'd stay until the rest of the family got here," Casey replied, picking at a ball of lint on the pale blue blanket. "Your agent's going to have a fit."

"If that wasn't an abrupt change of topic, I don't know what is." Derek shook his head slightly, and it made his head swim a bit. "Larry can stuff it. I was in a fucking car accident. That wasn't my fault, I might add."

"What happened? I just got this phone call, and I…" Casey trailed off, swallowing hard.

Derek licked his lips. "I was going over a bridge on the way back to my apartment, and the guy coming towards me, I think he hit a patch of ice, and I swerved, but he spun, and I think I blacked out pretty quick."

Unconsciously, she grabbed at the blanket, twisting it in her hands, white knuckled. Derek brushed the hair out of his eyes and caught her attention with a little wave.

"I'm okay, if you noticed."

She glared. "I had, thank you. If only the accident had rendered you speechless, then I wouldn't have to be taunted as I'm busy worrying for your wellbeing."

He chuckled and winced when it hurt. Casey started for the call button by the side of the bed, but he waved her off.

"It only hurts when I breathe," he joked weakly.

"Derek," Casey warned with her tone. "Do I need to call the doctor? I should leave and let you sleep." She tried to get up, but Derek snatched one of her hands despite the pain of bending forward, and kept her in her seat.

"I want you to stay with me." The words hung in the otherwise undisturbed still of his single room.

Casey's eyes went as wide as saucers. The conflict between disbelief and astonished hope played across her face, starting with the furrow of her brows and ending with the clenching and unclenching of her jaw.

"Oh-oh-okay," she stuttered, not taking her blue eyes off his own brown ones.

Derek smiled unsteadily. She always managed to make him sound like he was a fifteen year old kid, no matter what circumstances.

"I mean, if you want to. I know you have a family to go home to, and I," he grasped for words, throat dry, "I understand it's late. So if you want to go, I get it."

Pressed into his palm as it was, Derek felt her pulse race in her thumb while she watched him stammer over his carefully chosen words.

"Do you mean that? Like, really mean that?"

He nodded hesitantly.

"No pranks, no lies, no games?" Her voice wavered.

He shook his head.

"I've thought," and she blushed, "probably too much, about us, and my family, and your family, shit...our family. They'll be here in the morning, and I won't know what to tell them."

The lump in his throat was painful, almost worse than when he'd woken up in the ambulance before the acetaminophen kicked in.

"But even though I've run through every scenario in my head, I never thought you'd actually ask." She smiled at him then, a genuine grin. "I guess you're finally growing up."

"Who? Me?" Derek choked out, a little lost.

She squeezed his hand. "You need to sleep. Everyone's going to be fawning over you in the morning, and you're not going to get any rest."

"But..."

"Don't worry; I'll be here when you wake up." She pulled her chair closer to the bed. "You enjoy making me sleep in uncomfortable positions, don't you?"

He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and cocked an eyebrow.

Casey rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Don't be such a pervert."

"It's part of my charm."

"Go to bed."

------------

Derek slept soundly, mostly due to the meds he was on, but he was glad he did. Casey was right, as soon as George, Nora and Marti got there, he was pelted with hugs and kisses and flowers. Lizzie and Edwin made it an hour later and brought more distractions in the form of DVDs and the laptop they'd picked up at his apartment.

Casey meanwhile had snuck out of the chaos and was sitting in one of the squeaky plastic chairs in the visitors lounge, slowly punching buttons on her cell. She chewed on her lip until the line was picked up.

"Hey, Jason." She leaned back and exhaled deliberately. "We need to talk."

**Author's Notes**

Finally! I'm done! I'm free! This is the last chapter of this story, and no, there's going to be no sequel and no epilogue. I want to thank everyone so much for all their encouragement and reviews, even though it's taken me forever to finish the chapters. Your reviews are what keep me motivated, and I appreciate each and every one of them. So as a parting gift (though, I'm sure I'll write more LWD fic in the future), I present to you, the soundtrack to Same Old Song And Dance. It's chock full of Led Zeppelin goodness, so sit back, relax, and enjoy.

P.S. if the link is dead, PM me or let me know in the reviews, so I can reupload it.

http:// www .sendspace. com /file/ g9mlyb (remove the spaces)


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